by Kitty O'Meara ; illustrated by Stefano Di Cristofaro and Paul Pereda

"And the people stayed home is a beautifully produced picture book of Kitty O'Meara's popular, globally viral prose poem about the coronavirus pandemic, which has a hopeful and timeless message. Kitty O'Meara, author of And the People Stayed Home, has been called the poet laureate of the pandemic by O, The Oprah Magazine. This illustrated and beautifully produced children's book (ages 4-8) will also appeal to readers of all ages. O'Meara's prose poem, with its hopeful and timeless message about healing of people and the Earth, written in March 2020, quickly went viral on a global level. O'Meara, a former teacher and chaplain, clearly captured an important aspect of the pandemic experience's zeitgeist while offering a thoughtful and optimistic view of the future. Her words have resonated nationally and internationally and been widely circulated on social media, mainstream news media, and have inspired an outpouring of creativity with musicians across the globe creating songs, filmmakers creating videos, artists creating imagery with the words, and much more. Major media and influencers who have shared the poem or written about O'Meara include: a feature in O Magazine, Deepak Chopra read the piece on his daily podcast and shared it on FaceBook, and Bella Hadid shared her poem. The book will build on this momentum and vastly expand the potential audience. Producing a book for children and their families will bring O'Meara's message to a wider audience and present it in a different and more permanent format."--