“It was cathartic,” Stacy Chapin said. “Anything we do, any opportunity we have to speak about him, it keeps his memory out there.”
“The Boy Who Wore Blue,” written by Chapin and illustrated by Lana Lee, is a story about kindness and inclusion. For those who didn’t know Ethan Chapin, the book may seem like any other children’s book about being kind and including others. For those who knew Ethan, or know why the book was written, it means so much more.
“I want it to be a story for people who knew him and didn’t,” Stacy Chapin said.
From the day Ethan Chapin and his two siblings were born, joy abounded in the Chapin household. In the book, Ethan is characterized as the boy who wore blue. Maizie, his sister, wore pink and Hunter, his brother, wore green. “There was something incredible about that boy who wore blue,” Stacy Chapin wrote. “His bubbly personality immediately shone through.”
“From the very beginning, everybody was included,” Stacy Chapin said. “He didn’t care what basketball team he was playing on, as long as he was playing.”
Of the 27 pages in “The Boy Who Wore Blue,” pages 16 and 17 stand out. While most of the pages are about how kind Ethan was, these two show the impact Ethan had through his job in the tulip fields.
“When school let out, and the kids could no longer go, they’d work in fields where yellow and white tulips grow,” Stacy Chapin wrote. “Everyone loved him; he was forever funny, laughing, easy-going and eternally sunny.”
Tulip Valley Farms has created the Ethan’s Smile mix, a mix of yellow and white tulips. “All proceeds of this mix support the planting of Ethan’s Smile gardens at the University of Idaho and in Mount Vernon and are donated to causes in memoriam of Ethan,” the Tulip Valley Farms website states.
When working on this book, Stacy Chapin wanted to tell the story of who Ethan was. While the media was able to get quotes and clips from friends and family, in the end, Stacy is the most qualified person to tell the story of Ethan. “I can write the true story,” she said.
The idea for the book came to Stacy instantly, “like a country artist after a breakup,” she said. And just like a country artist, Stacy told a story of love and a broken heart, just through a children’s book instead of song. She told the story of “a peacekeeper in the family.” “He always had something kind and funny to say,” she said. “His personality was magnanimous”
“The Boy Who Wore Blue” is not currently available at the Moscow Public Library but can be purchased on Amazon for $28.95. Stacy also hopes to get the book out to more places.
“I wrote the book, and you think that everyone is going to know about it, but that’s just not the case,” she said. “My goal is Target, stores, libraries and I want teachers to have it.”
Although “The Boy Who Wore Blue” is a children’s book and will go in the children’s section of stores and libraries, it tells a wonderful story and gives great life lessons, especially on page 27.
“Life is short, so give it your best. Be happy, smile and encourage the rest!”
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jamesaldrich25