Read ‘My Mask,’ a picture book to help kids understand coronavirus
Image by Miriam and Carol Ungar
Like many grandmothers, I’ve been trying to find a way to connect with my grandkids in this pandemic. I penned a poem for my granddaughter Livia who lives in Hollywood, Florida — the other side of the globe from me in Israel; we now visit on Facetime. My daughter, Miriam, a self-taught painter, took it to the next level with her wonderful painted collage illustrations.
It wasn’t until I started wearing a mask myself to protect myself and others from coronavirus that I realized what a challenge it was. They do smell bad, they aren’t pretty and they squash the face and the air passages. I’ve ditched my pasty white N95 for an aqua blue surgical model which offers a bit of a chance at breathing.
Miriam and I both hope that the book will help kids and the grownups who love them adjust to mask wearing until a vaccine or cure, or a miracle occurs so that we too can safely “toss our masks to the sky.”
Image by Miriam and Carol Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Image by Carol and Miriam Ungar
Carol Ungar is a freelance writer, Mom, and grandmother who lives and works in the Jerusalem suburbs. Her first kids book “the Surprise in the Desk” is slated for publication later this year.
Miriam Ungar lives with her husband and daughter in Hollywood, Florida. She is a real estate executive who loves to cook and make art.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Community Readers help a ‘left-wing Zionist’ find their political tribe
-
Community You say matzah — and matzo and matzuh and matzee and more
-
Community Houdini, J.D. Salinger and Elvis: Your ideas for our list of Jews who made history
-
Community The great-granddaughter of a Hollywood pioneer called out Dave Chappelle, and we got mail
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
- 4
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Pennsylvania Jewish groups condemn ‘genocide’ slogan on Gisele Fetterman’s charity
-
Fast Forward A Republican senator called Chuck Schumer ‘Fuhrer’
-
Fast Forward The Ben of Ben & Jerry’s is asking Unilever to let his ice cream brand go
-
Fast Forward 80 years after Auschwitz, kosher food will be sold in its town of Oświęcim
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.