Ad
Featured
RRPS employee writes children's book tackling misinformation
Joni Kuykendall (left) holds the book "Is It Real or Make-believe," alongside her daughter, Terra Morris (right). Kuykendall was the author while Morris illustrated the book.
RIO RANCHO — Joni Kuykendall is the S.A.F.E. before and after school coordinator at Puesta Del Sol Elementary School, but did you know that Kuykendall is also the author of the children's book "Is It Real or Make-Believe"?
"It was inspired from watching my students use their phones and being influenced from information in them without even wondering if the information may be false," Kuykendall said.
So, Kuykendall got to writing and reached out to her daughter, Terra Morris, for help with the illustration.
"My daughter, Terra Morris, works for APD in their video unit. In college, she dabbled with painting and art. I asked her to draw the illustrations in the book. It was a great project for us to do together," Kuykendall said.
Besides working at Puesta Del Sol, Kuykendall was also a long-time teacher at Mountain View Middle School.
"I taught sixth- and eighth-grade science at Mountain View [Middle School] for 16 years. Science is much like social media when it comes to finding solutions to problems. Scientists must try again and again before regarding information as factual. You certainly don’t want the wrong information on a medicine bottle," Kuykendall said.
Throughout the book, young readers will be introduced to animals and the world they live in while also being given the chance to ask questions about the information being provided to them. The book invites discussion as readers decide if information is real or not.
"I really hope as our children are growing up with AI [artificial intelligence] that they always ask questions. We live in an artificial world, and many times the information out there is false and children just believe it," Kuykendall said.
The book "Is It Real or Make-believe," was published in April by Christian Faith Publishing. You can find the book on Amazon, Walmart.com, and Barnes & Noble.com.
