These books are both the shortest and the most difficult prose I have ever written. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I tried to make the books convey hope. Between 1959 and 1964, when I was in the 5 to 10 age group, I was terrified of nuclear war. I overheard my parents talking about it, knew vaguely about the Bay of Pigs crisis and remember feeling as though my world might be blown to bits at any moment. I heard that kind of fear in the voice of the boy who said you could get AIDS from a bologna sandwich.
Children feel hopeful when they know that adults are taking action to fix the problem.
They clearly distinguish between living with HIV and having AIDS and describe AIDS as something that happens when a person's body starts to get tired from fighting against the virus for a long time. I would be very interested to hear from readers regarding your opinion of these books and how children in your life respond to them. If they stimulate honest conversation between children and adults, they will have served their purpose. You might know that AIDS is a disease that can kill people. It is a new disease in the world and scientists are still trying to find a way to cure it.