LOCKDOWN! One of a Kind YA Picture Book

 Published!

In April of 2023 I was working on my M Ed in English through American College of Education. I had an assignment that was a struggle. Normally, I was able to have my assignments complete for the week by Wednesday when they were due on Sunday. The week of April 24th I had to write a flash fiction. A flash fiction is a narrative using a1000 words or less. It is a new trend inspired by social media posts that used to have a character limit.

Flash fictions also go against (at the time) every grain in my teacher soul. I am constantly telling students to write more and expand on their ideas. Now, I am suppose to write less? Ha! Regardless, I had to do the assignment and I was stuck. It was Thursday and I still had no clue about what to write. Then the routine lockdown happened at school, As I got up off the floor with a smudge of dirt on my dress, I knew I had my topic. The flash fiction Lockdown! was born.

After I wrote it, I knew I had something special and my instructor agreed with me. She told me I really should have it published. But, how? It was only 956 words. I am not a short story author. It is not like I could just add it to a book I was working on. In the meantime I also I had my capstone I needed to start in order to graduate in May of 2024.

I struggled with both how to publish Lockdown! and what to do for my capstone. In the meantime, I was using picture books in my 7th grade ELA class to teach the Elements of Literature. In October on 2023 it finally dawned on me that I needed to publish Lockdown! as a picture book and use it as my capstone. 

On May 1, 2023 Lockdown! hit online bookstores worldwide. It also served as my capstone in which I was able to graduate with a 4.0 M Ed. in English. I expanded on the 1000 world limit per suggested by my Publisher to around 4000 words. It is scary to have such a controversial piece of literature published. However, it is a story that needs to be told because it happens on a regular occurrence across the United States of America. My hope is that it opens up conversations between community stakeholders, teachers and students. 

I need your help to get the conversation started. Would you share the link with your friends and family? Purchasing a book to share with others, keep on your bookshelf, and/or donating a copy to your local library would be greatly appreciated as well! 

Check out my official website: Betsie Morris