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Westchase Elementary teacher writes book helping kids cope with classroom changes during pandemic

Emily Oquendo's "A Unique Start From 6 Feet Apart"
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Posted at 2:08 AM, Sep 02, 2020
and last updated 2022-01-13 05:49:04-05

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Emily Oquendo is a teacher and an author. But she is a mother first.

A worried mom of two young daughters.

That is how this whole bestselling book business started.

"Like any parent, I was losing sleep at night," says Oquendo. "How could I describe what school was going to look like to my daughter?"

Her oldest daughter Audriana is going into VPK.

So Emily, who is a teacher at Westchase Elementary, wrote and published a book to help her daughter and a whole lot of other kids.

It's called A Unique Start From 6 Feet Apart. The sweet, lovely children's book explains to kids how the pandemic has changed classrooms.

The book is currently a bestseller on Amazon.

There are rhymes and fun pictures. There are also masks and hand sanitizer and something called social distancing.

Westchase Elementary Principal Elise Suarez says Emily's book will help dictate how they acclimate their grade-schoolers.

"She's transformed the way we'll teach our kids about how to manage the situation," says Suarez, who plans on having Emily read the book to the entire school.

For more on A Unique Start From 6 Feet Apart, click here.