Where Are the Books About Birthmarks?
When I was about 4½ years old, I asked my mom why there weren’t any characters with birthmarks in the books she would read me. When we went to the library, we realized there weren’t any available for little kids. Worse than that, the books available to older kids and adults portrayed characters with birthmarks as being lonely outcasts — ashamed, unattractive, and unhappy. It seemed like people with birthmarks were being stereotyped and only portrayed to the public in a negative way. I didn’t think that was right. My mom knew I was disappointed. There weren’t any books with cool characters who had birthmarks. So she said we could write our own. She took all my ideas and we created the first book of its kind to educate kids about birthmarks and also offer a more realistic, positive character with a birthmark. I based the story on all real things that happened in my life. But instead of people, the characters in the book are real animals from the Galapagos Islands, including red-footed bo
