The Toughest Unicorn is an older children’s graphic novel, centering around animals as I’ve loved them all my life. To tell an overarching story with characters that learn and grow that kids can see themselves in. Sweet Pea (pictured above) is the story's protagonist. She is a young Black Rhino who dreams of joining the Unicorns in their fight to save animal kind. She is accompanied by her closest friend, Maurice, the Dodo and her mentor, Polaris, the veteran Unicorn.

 

I want to teach kids to be conscious of the environmental health of the world around them and about amazing endangered and extinct animals they may not have heard about before. As well as how to stand up for themselves with their disabilities and to empathize with others with disabilities. As someone who often felt on the outside growing up being an introvert in my family and who then developed a hidden chronic illness that I still deal with, I’ve learned a lot about dealing with it and how to treat others with both visible and invisible disabilities. I didn’t know much about that as a kid or see any media really tackle the topic of disabilities outside the amazing Avatar: the Last Airbender.