Briar and the Rainbow Unillama
A picture book written especially for children for November 18th - World Day for Prevention, Healing and Justice to End Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents.
Briar is confused. She wants to be good friends with the Unillama — who has the most beautiful fleece that she has ever seen. But the Unillama is the boss of its own body and she needs consent to touch its fleece. Can Briar make a good choice and understand how the Unillama feels?
Briar and The Rainbow Unillama is an enjoyable and enlightening way for parents and educators to present sensitive concepts of social boundaries.
A brief Q&A with B.R. Rhodes on Briar and The Rainbow Unillama
Q: Why made you decide to write this book?
A: I wrote this book because child protection is very important to me, and I believe that there can never be enough books with strategies for early intervention.
Q: Is Briar in this story the same character as Briar in Blue Rose Red? Does that mean that Briar is autistic?
A: Yes, they are both the same character! In Briar and The Rainbow Unillama, Briar’s autism is not overtly stated as it’s not the main theme of the book. I think a lot of young children struggle to understand the concepts of social boundaries and personal space. When you’re at six or seven years of age, many aspects of your life are brand new experiences– like you will be starting school, forging brand new friendships and experiencing many things for the first time. Navigating this can naturally be tricky for all children, not only children with autism.
Q: Why a Unillama?
A: Some years ago I was at a local fair and there was a grumpy alpaca. It certainly did not want anyone to pet it or touch its fleece but it was so soft and woolly-looking that I think everyone in the entire room wanted to! I can only imagine how much more tempting it would have been if it had been rainbow.
Q: Did you use some reverse psychology here?
A: I chose this storyline because of an observation I made working with children. I noticed that if they agree that they should not engage in a particular behavior (e.g. touching the fleece) and they can see why it is wrong for them to do something – then they are far more likely to take a stronger stance when the situation is reversed and something is happening to them.
Q: Kind of like, ‘I can’t touch the fleece without consent, so no one should touch me without my consent?’
A: Exactly, and I wanted to get this message across in a non-threatening way without scaring or intimidating children with what might happen. Unfortunately, child sexual abuse remains to be a widespread problem and it’s estimated that every nine minutes* child protective services substantiates or finds evidence for a claim of child sexual abuse. It is my belief that we need to do more to safeguard children from harm, and that can definitely come in the form of providing them with strategies from an early age. Some key messages from my book are ‘I am the boss of my body’ and ‘I don’t have to put up with touches that don’t feel good’ and I hope that many children are able to take this on board from reading Briar and The Rainbow Unillama.
*Statistic from: United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. Child Maltreatment Survey, 2016 (2018).
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