COVID-19 has begun to circulate in the community. Quinn is more familiar with it because her father is a hospital doctor. But it doesn't seem real or relevant to Quinn and her friends until the school announces it is closing for two weeks...and then the closure gets extended. The effort required for remote schooling, social distance, mask wearing, and washing and quarantining groceries exacts an emotional toll on everyone. Quinn eventually comes up with a clever idea for the school community to come together (at a social distance) for an evening of hope and joy. Given that the author wrote this in the spring of 2020, the book captures exactly the tumult and anxiety of those early pandemic days as well as the "we're all in this together" spirit. Kids may not wish to revisit the whole pandemic experience in a book but on the other hand reading it could be validating of their own experiences. ( )

A short read at about 125 pages, Don't Stand So Close to Me offers young readers an entertaining and informative story about the COVID-19 pandemic. Conceived as an idea on April 22, it was a reality in eBook format just 41 days later.

Eric Walters does a good job balancing the need to tell a story, while addressing the concerns by teachers and librarians that prompted him to write this book : namely, that students were confused; they didn't understand what was going on.

(Learn more about the circumstances behind creation of this book in my Book-Talk video, https://youtu.be/21gJhMUhwtI.)

Reading this book, I was struck by just how much Mr. Walters was able to incorporate of an event that is still unfolding. Don't Stand So Close to Me is available as an eBook through my public library, via the Hoopla platform. A print edition is expected in September.

(Video review at https://youtu.be/AledlyGGpao)