A Richmond teacher has collaborated with two of her students to create their own picture book about sustainability and to share the beauty B.C. has to offer.
Jimena Perez, a teacher at Thompson elementary, has always been a fan of picture books, but wasn’t able to find one that she was happy with when Earth Day came around in 2019.
“There are lots of books about recycling and such, but there wasn’t just a simple nice picture book where you can talk to kids about how to take care of the environment or what our local animals and places are like,” said Perez.
“Because our new B.C. school curriculum is so focused on our local land and animals we have in the province, I knew I wanted to include all that in the pictures for my own future book.”
Perez made it her New Year’s resolution in 2020 to create one, and the pandemic restrictions gave her the opportunity to do it with the help of her students Alexis and Avery Chan.
The book titled Home: A West Coast Inspired Book is told from the perspective of a bald eagle and explores the various animals and landmarks in British Columbia.
While the book, said Perez, only has a few words per page, the illustrations by Alexis and Avery are what make the book easy to learn from on such an important topic.
“Sometimes fewer words are more and a picture book can be used to help prompt discussions more than a novel could,” she added.
The Chan sisters told the Richmond News they really care about the environment and hope the book will continue to “remind (everyone) to start doing something to protect it.”
“We are very honoured that Ms. Perez gave us the opportunity to be a part of such a great and meaningful book. We had so much fun illustrating this book … (and) we hope everyone will enjoy it as much as we did,” they said in an email.
The books are still being printed and are expected to arrive sometime in late February. Perez is accepting orders and answering any questions by email at jimenap418@gmail.com.
