The Day the Lines Changed: An Inspiring Story about a Line, a Pandemic, and How Change Shapes us All

Without ever saying “Coronavirus” or “Pandemic,” The Day the Lines Changed explains what it means to live through a viral outbreak and gives children a much needed, optimistic view of the future. Through the use of ripped paper and basic shapes, Kelley Donner takes a frightening and complicated topic and turns it into an uplifting, easily understandable story about the life of a green line.

The Day the Lines Changed, a picture book for children between the ages of 2 and 6 should be a welcome resource for parents, teachers, and caregivers who are trying their best to explain the pandemic to worried children. All proceeds in March and April 2020 will go to Covid-19 charities that support children’s mental health*

Carefree and happy, the green line lives together with her family, goes to school during the week, and on weekends visits the town square. Then one day some of the orange and purple lines begin to turn crooked and suddenly, everything is different for the green line and her family. Just as green begins to worry, if her own family might turn crooked, one line makes a fantastic discovery which changes the lives of the lines forever.

While being self-quarantined with her family and already suffering from cabin fever, Kelley Donner got an idea that she couldn’t push away. After wielding continual questions about the Coronavirus from her three boys, she felt compelled to write a story which explained what a pandemic is in a way that any child could understand. Kelley hopes that parents and educators will use The Day the Lines Changed as a platform for discussion about this difficult topic.

Kelley Donner has worked as an educator for over twenty years and is also the bestselling author of Ball! Ball! Ball! A Picture Book to Inspire Sensory Awareness and Little Jack Thomson’s Magnificent Brain. She is currently doing her Masters in Illustration and Book Arts at the Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University and lives together with her family in Cambridge.