Shivani Ramoutar pens story to help children deal with life amid covid19

Dreams can still come true amidst a pandemic. For first-time author Shivani Ramoutar, early aspirations to write and publish her own children’s book came to fruition.Ramoutar’s pilot publication, Susan meets Mia the mask, tells a story about her personal experience explaining covid19 to her children. It addresses some of the pertinent questions that most parents were faced with during this time.

Online school, stay-at-home restrictions, the inability to see friends in person, wearing a mask and using sanitizer are among a host of other open conversations Susan has with her mom in this simple but very relevant story. Susan’s mom explains these changes to her daughter gently since covid19 remains a scary topic, even among adults.

One of the book’s aims is to reassure both parents and children that they’re not alone on this historic journey through a pandemic. Ramoutar believes her first book will do just that.

“Susan is picked up by her mom at school and a conversation about covid19 ensues. They come home, they talk about it, they put on the television and she tries on her mask.

“Susan’s mom gives her, her first bottle of hand sanitizer which she is excited about because she never owned one before.

“Her mom tells her that she may not have ballet or swim classes anymore. It’s a lot for her to comprehend,” Ramoutar said.

Similarly, the debut author remembers picking up her daughter and son at school in mid-March 2020 and unbeknownst to the three of them, it would be the last day of physical school for over 18 months to date.

Ramoutar reflected on the plethora of questions she faced from her own children about why there was no more school. How would they learn from a computer? Why was a face-mask necessary? Why couldn’t they go on an airplane or attend birthday parties anymore?

“They were so inquisitive and I had to answer all their questions. I decided I would write this book based on my experience explaining this virus to them. This book will serve as a reminder of something that we went through,” she added.

Writing has always been Ramoutar’s passion, particularly poetry and short stories. She even wrote songs and poems for friends and slogans for those with companies and products. This was something that came naturally and she enjoyed it.

Famed author Enid Blyton was her first childhood inspiration and for every birthday and Christmas, her parents would always get her a new book which she’d complete in hours.

This love for reading progressed to writing and she began writing her own short stories and poems.

“Having two kids in primary school also meant that I would have to help them nurture their creative writing juices and propel them to enjoy this love of reading that I had at their age and I was most certainly up for that challenge,” she said.

After graduating from ASJA Girls' College, she studied management at UWI, St Augustine. Ramoutar then got a job and two years later, got married and became pregnant with her first child. She always wanted to write a book but life happened.

When the pandemic hit last year, Ramoutar was required to be at work occasionally and/or work from home. She used the additional time at home to sit down, put her thoughts together and take the first step towards achieving a long-time dream.

Ramoutar said while the pandemic did and continues to have adverse effects on the world, the first rollout of public outdoor restrictions forced people to stay inside which allowed some to put things in place for themselves and realise dreams that could not have been realised before.

When she completed the story, she began looking for a talented local illustrator to help depict her storyline. Her search unearthed skilful animated artist Charlene Chattergoon, who was elated to delve into the world of illustrating and snapped up the unique offer.

The pair worked hand-in-hand to create pictures that were in sync with the story being told, and as you turn each page, from cover to end, readers experience all the emotion and imagery associated with the book.

She said, “Covid19 opened up an opportunity which didn’t exist before for me, which was time. It also allowed me to focus a bit more on myself and put this dream of mine into action. I decided to take the leap and get this book out there."

After receiving the first official copy of Susan meets Mia the mask in her hands, to finally touch, smell and experience flipping through the bright pages of her inaugural publication, Ramoutar was speechless. She’d done it!

“Words cannot express how I felt when I got the finished product and held it in my hands. It was a lifelong dream that had come true and seeing it unfold was something that brought me such joy and pride.

“In any task you set out to do, I think the start-up is always the hardest part, and once you take that leap, it becomes so much easier.

“To actually write it and see my name on the cover was an overwhelming and emotional feeling that I’ll never forget.”

Ramoutar also acknowledged Royards Publishing for the playing a key role towards her first publication.

She is now close to completing her second book in the children genre with another instalment of the Susan series.