Get 'My Hero is You', a free storybook for children on COVID-19

My Hero is You: how kids can fight COVID-19! is a free storybook for children on how to understand and cope with the pandemic.

The story was developed after a global survey on children's mental health during the virus outbreak. The story was first shared through storytelling and feedback from parents and children was used to improve it.



It is published by the United Nations' Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG), written and illustrated by Helen Patuck.

Download the book

It is recommended to be read to children with the guidance of a parent, teacher, or guardian. A supplement to the book, 'Actions for Heroes' will be published later and it will include more topics on helping children cope with the current situation and more activities related to the book.

It is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO), which means that reproduction, translation, and adaptation of the work are allowed as long as it there is for non-commercial use and an acknowledgment of the original version is included.

It is currently being translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. For interested translators, contact the IASC Reference Group for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) at mhpss.refgroup@gmail.com. For translation guidelines, please check this page.

As for the story, it is about a girl named Sara who meets a dinosaur-like creature called Ario. They travel and meet friends, and they learn about what they can do to help others during the pandemic.