PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - The mother of a teen who was killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has turned the teen’s tragic story into a children’s book.
“Joaquin’s First School Shooting” might be geared at young readers, but the story it tells is far from a fairy tale.
Its author is the mother of Joaquin Oliver.
“My name is Patricia Oliver, I’m Joaquin’s mom,” she said.
Mother’s Day is less than two weeks away.
For Oliver, it’s been six Mother’s Days without her son.
Joaquin was one of the 17 victims killed inside the Parkland campus on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Since that day, she and her husband, Manuel Oliver, have been fighting for gun reform using different platforms and strategies in an attempt to persuade lawmakers to create change.
“Every time you go and visit one of them, it’s the same rhetoric, it’s the same conversation,” Oliver said. “You’re asking for the same issues, and you don’t see any more than, ‘OK, I understand. I will think about it.'”
From the couple’s point of view, nothing seems to have changed.
That’s why they’re choosing a children’s book to try and get their message across.
“‘We tried to get clear, but it was a bit late. It was his machine gun that decided our fates,'” Oliver said as she read from the book.
Next week, Oliver will be traveling to Washington D.C.
During her visit, she’ll be reading her book, Joaquin’s First School Shooting, to members of Congress..
“This language is like we’re talking to their kids, so it has to be simple for them to understand the painful moment that my son Joaquin lived, and they will feel it, and they will react to this,” Oliver said.
The book uses simple language to tell the story of her son’s last day alive.
Finger holes that are usually there to help young kids turn the page, represent the bullet holes that killed and wounded the victims.
“This is a book that is presented as a child’s book, but the content of the book is for adults,” Oliver said. “This is for adults to read to adults. This is very painful to be reading for kids.”
“‘We must not forget, or I’ve died in vain. Enough is enough. Please, never again,'” Oliver said as she read from the book.
This time, Oliver hopes her message will finally get across.
“This time, I think it’s going to be different,” she said. “The impact that this book will be having in their faces, in their hearts, I bet you that it’s going to be 100% different.”
The book is set to be delivered to members of Congress just a few days before Mother’s Day.
If given the chance, Oliver hopes to read the story to some of them.
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