Today we’d like to introduce you to Betty Nguyen.
Hi Betty, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, my fiancé Brandon and I were both fascinated by children’s books. Our parents were refugees of the Vietnam War and spoke little English when we were children. They could not read to us, but they constantly brought us to the library, encouraging us to read, think, and learn. Brandon and I met at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, where we bonded over our mutual love for the sciences. We were both attracted to the field of medicine, but we did not have a strong understanding of what being a doctor entailed.
Fast forward a decade later, we are both now finishing up our training – Brandon completed medical school at Stanford and is now an ophthalmology resident at the University of Miami, and I am graduating from medical school at UC Riverside. We were inspired to write a children’s book series that would introduce kids to the various medical specialties in a way that was simple, engaging, and easy-to-understand. We wanted to create books that we wish we had when we were kids and share some tidbits about medicine that we’ve learned along the way. We hope our books give children (and adults alike!) a glimpse of some commonly discussed topics in every medical specialty. We are so happy to share our Medical School for Kids series with you.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
We wrote a very rough draft of our first book, Dermatology for Kids, within a few days. The joy of writing our first book, however, was quickly met with challenges and questions. How should we illustrate these books? How should we publish? How do we market the books? We made many mistakes along the way, and some felt insurmountable. We were using Brandon’s resident salary and my medical student loans to fund the costs of producing the initial books, and we weren’t sure when (or if) we would ever break even. Friday date nights became work nights, and we spent countless weekends trying to create the best book we could make for kids. We enjoyed the creative process and were driven to make high-quality, educational materials for kids to learn from. After months of learning by trial and error, Dermatology for Kids was released in February 2022. Since then, we have continued to write more books and have released 10 titles to date: Dermatology for Kids, Ophthalmology for Kids, Neurology for Kids, Cardiology for Kids, Gastroenterology for Kids, Pulmonology for Kids, Endocrinology for Kids, Anesthesiology for Kids, Nephrology for Kids, and Radiology for Kids… with so many more books to come!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Medical School for Kids is an illustrated book series that introduces children to basic concepts in different medical specialties. We believe that our books are among the few on the market, written by physicians, that teach children real medical concepts in ways that they can easily grasp and understand. Each title in our series covers a different medical specialty and features colorful illustrations and simple explanations designed to teach children about anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the body. Incredibly, all of our books were recognized as #1 New Release in their respective specialties on Amazon! Writing and designing illustrations for children’s books have provided us with a creative outlet to share our passion for medicine with others globally. Hearing readers’ heartfelt feedback about these books has inspired us to continue educating both children and adults during our careers in medicine.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The first page of each book in our series begins with the following dedication:
“To the friends and family who have supported and loved us unconditionally, and to the mentors who have guided and taught us more than we could have imagined: thank you.”
We want to especially thank our parents, both refugees from the Vietnam War, who had the courage to leave their home country and take on various low-paying jobs—as technicians, seamstresses, and chicken farmers—to support our families. Their sacrifices inspired us to take advantage of every opportunity they made possible for us in the United States.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mdforkids.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/md.for.kids/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/md_for_kids
