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High schooler wins award for teaching kids
about safety
Books about disasters far from it
By PATRICE KOHL
Peninsula Clarion
April 25, 2006
Seventeen-year-old Hannah Watkins has not yet graduated from Kenai Central
High School, but has already hit the book publishing industry with a wave.
After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004,
Watkins visited local libraries and found text books explaining tsunamis,
but thought young children needed more than the text books could offer to
understand tsunamis.
"There weren't any story books that
little kids could relate to," she said.
She said that a book explaining what happens
during a tsunami from the perspective of a child in a story format would
help children understand and alleviate their concerns about the natural
disaster better than a text book.
"I wanted them to know what would happen if
a tsunami did hit," she said.
Soon Hannah wrote and illustrated a book
titled, "Heidi and the Tsunami," then "Molly and the Earthquake" and
"James and the Volcano."
The first book won her the 15th annual Caring
for the Kenai competition in 2005 and drew support from the Kenai Peninsula
Borough Office of Emergency Management and corporate sponsors, enabling her
to publish and distribute the book free to every kindergarten and pre-K
student on the peninsula.
Although the books are ideal for a tsunami-,
earthquake- and volcano-prone area like the Kenai Peninsula, Hannah's
books are not region specific and can be used to teach children living
anywhere vulnerable to the disasters.
"When I started the project, I didn't
know that much about disasters," she said. "(And) I didn't know how
many disasters affect the peninsula."
"By researching you learn all of the things
you should do," she said. "I didn't know that you should have an
emergency kit, but now our family has one."
Hannah estimates she spent about 100 hours
writing and illustrating each book. In each of the first three books she
named the characters after siblings.
"That's one of the best parts, you get to
choose everybody's name," she said.
But for her fourth and upcoming book, "Spencer
and the Wildfire," Hannah had to look elsewhere for names.
"I ran out of siblings," she said. "I
had to move on to cousins."
"James and the Volcano" is being printed
for the first time this spring "Heidi and the Tsunami" and "Molly and
the Earthquake" are being reprinted, bringing the number of copies
available to 18,000.
As Hannah's project has grown to include
more books, she has won recognition for her work again, receiving the
Prudential Spirit of Community Award, a national award
encouraging young people to become involved in community service.
As part of the award, Hannah will receive
$1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip in May to Washington, D.C. where she
will join 100 other top honorees from across the country.
Hannah said that although she enjoys writing,
she enjoys science even more and is considering a career in biomedical
engineering.
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