4 teens sell nearly 9,000 copies of their coloring books to explain the pandemic to kids
A class project has led to sales of nearly 9,000 coloring books for kids.
Four teens came together to create a coloring book that helps explain the coronavirus pandemic to kids through drawing and reading.
Fifteen-year-olds Lauryn Hong, Ella Matlock, Sofia Migliazza and Erin Rogers are rising sophomores at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California.
"Since we were in quarantine, our economics teacher decided to let us do COVID-19 related business plans," Hong told "Good Morning America." "Kids are learning about the virus and how to stay safe but also get to be active."
"We wanted to do something that helped the community and helped kids so we decided on a coloring book," Hong added.
The teens were encouraged by their teacher to turn their business plan into a 28-page coloring book. The friends said they used Photoshop to compile the finished book into a PDF and hired a local printer to bind and print the first wave of copies.
"In the beginning, we only anticipated to sell 25 books to our friends and family, and then we ended up ordering 450 books in our first order," Matlock said.
Fast forward two months, and the sophomores said they have sold nearly 9,000 copies and helped raise over $17,000 in the process. Each book costs $5 and every $2 goes to a charity of the buyer's choice, such as a group related to the Black Lives Matter movement or a hospital's COVID-19 relief fund.
"We've sold almost 9,000 books and we've donated a little bit over $17,000 throughout the two months we've been doing this," Migliazza and Rogers told "GMA."
Long Beach teacher Christine Bradfield found out about the coloring book on Twitter and purchased a copy for her 11-year-old and 6-year-old, Caleb and Cali.
"I love to support students in their philanthropic efforts. They saw a need in the community and used their creativity to help others," Bradfield said.
John Napalan, father of 4-year-old Jax and 1-year-old- Zara Napalan, told "Good Morning America" how much his kids enjoy the book.
"It has been very helpful with starting conversations with our kids about the current situation. Our son asks questions all the time -- 'Why can't we see grandma? Why are there so many germs? Why do we need to wear masks?' -- so this was a great kid friendly resource to help us explain what is going on," Napalan said.
Giving back while helping them cope
In addition to giving back to the community, the girls also said the book helped them.
"I think it's helped us cope a lot during quarantine because we're really not doing much, so we've been actually kinda busy with this," Matlock explained.
Each teen brought her own unique talents to contribute to publication of the book.
"Laurnyn wrote the book, and Sofia and I do the drawings. Sofia does the activities in the book and Erin arranges it all in photoshop and works on our website as well," Matlock explained.
During this time, they've all been able to work together to grow Color Co.'s social media presence. The group plans to release another book in the coming months on how to talk to kids about racism and acceptance inspired by this moment of racial reckoning in the country.
"It's called 'Stand Up for Yourself' and it's about racism and teaching kids to be kind to everyone even if they're different," Migliazza said.
"We hope that the people reading the books, mainly the little kids, are learning," Matlock noted. "We work hard to make that possible."
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