Children’s Book Project

The SIPS Fund supported Rhadika Sahai in creating a children’s book that depicts the narratives of chronically hospitalized children. While volunteering at a hospital, Rhadika learned that children who spend weeks in hospitals due to chronic disease use books to engage their imaginations. However, most children’s books depict children who regularly play outside, attend school, and kiss their parents goodnight – experiences that are uncommon for hospitalized children. This suggests to many chronically-ill children that their lives are abnormal, and their experiences isolated. 

To solve this issue, Rhadika decided she would write her own book for chronically ill children. The book creates not only characters and a storyline that children can identify with but also a medium to explain difficult aspects of hospitalization, such as pain, isolation, and instability.