Verona business owner Daniela Amato became a vegan as an adult, after a childhood spent with what she describes as all the traditional Italian comfort foods. But she’s just published a book to help today’s children get an earlier start on vegan eating.
“I’ve always believed that children should have books that not just align with their current thinking but encourage them to think of something different,” says Amato, a mother of two who owns Healing Treatments Massage Studio on Grove Avenue.
Her book, written for ages 8 and up, is entitled If it Was Me . . . A Child’s Journey Through Reflection. It encourages its readers to reflect on their relationship to the creatures around them–and what they are eating. “I think there is a huge disconnect between what we see and what we actually do,” Amato says. “People pick up packaged meat and don’t think about where it came from.” Vegans follow a plant-based diet and do not eat–or use–animal products, even things like eggs, milk and honey.
The book is fanciful, not preachy, which Amato says was deliberate. “Children need to explore their imagination,” she says. The gentle writing is accompanied by equally gentle illustrations, done by Carlos Franco, an illustrator Amato met while working in New York City some years ago.
“Children are the new generation,” Amato says. “Let’s start them thinking about veganism young, instead of being a adult and making those realizations later in life.”
The most important thing to take from the book is to start making connections between the animals we love to see at a petting zoo and going to the store and buying ground meat,” Amato says. “We need to have more empathy for other beings.”
If it Was Me . . . A Child’s Journey Through Reflection is available through its publisher as well as Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Google Play books.
