The past few months I have had the opportunity to work with a very talented set of people at HealthPress NA, Inc. as the illustrator of a new bibliotherapy book for children with leukemia.

The story is written by Elizabeth Murphy-Melas, and she has done an excellent job of telling the story of a child who learns he has leukemia and what he then goes through, but from a sibling's perspective, in this case an older brother.

My contribution to the project consisted of 25 three-quarter page full-color illustrations as well as title page and cover art. This was also my first foray into children's book illustration and so I learned a lot about children's book publication along the way.

Throughout this project, I was challenged to follow a set of characters through an unbelievably difficult experience and convey the emotions of those characters in the illustrations. During the process, we worked closely with oncologists and other healthcare professionals who work with cancer patients every day. We received valuable feedback on the story and illustrations which helped us to portray an accurate account of the life-changing situations that children with leukemia endure. The result of all the hardwork is a picturebook that provides valuable information about childhood leukemia.

My Blood Brother is available now on Amazon. If you purchase the book from HealthPress on June 3, 2010, you will receive free shipping. You will also have the option to donate the book to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a charity for families dealing with childhood cancer. If you would like to donate the book to charity, type "Hawaii Fundraiser" in the comment box. If you would like a copy for yourself, type "personal copy" in the comment box. You will only be able to donate the book to charity from the website on June 3, 2010.