Children’s Books Introduce Young Readers to EMS Life

If you search Amazon for children’s books about firefighters, you’ll find more than 1,000 options. If you do the same for EMTs or paramedics, fewer than 20 books are available.

EMS providers often look for books to read to kids as part of community education events, such as during EMS Week, or even just to explain to their own children what they do. In recent years some top sellers have included Frederick the Paramedic, Please Don’t Dance in My Ambulance, and Awesome Ambulances. Over the past year two new children’s books written by active medics have joined the ranks. EMS World sat down with Delaware paramedic Jessica Mahon, author of Joel Meets the Paramedics, and New York paramedic David Horowitz, author of Emergency Monster Squad.

EMS World: Tell us a little about yourselves, especially what got you started in EMS, how long you’ve been doing it, your level of certification, and where you currently work.

Mahon: I’ve been a paramedic for nearly nine years and currently work at New Castle County Paramedics in Northern Delaware. I got started in EMS because my grandfather had told me fun stories growing up about working on the ambulance, and I wanted to have a skill to fall back on. I first obtained a degree in film, and while that was a lot of fun, it was hard to find a steady job. During that time I also went to EMT school and figured I would try being a paramedic. I’m a nationally registered paramedic with certification also in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Horowitz: I got started in EMS about nine years ago. I had been a children’s book author for a long time and reached a point of burnout in publishing. I was looking for something new. My local volunteer EMS agency was looking for drivers. Driving a big truck with lights and sirens on the wrong side of the double yellow line looked fun. Prior to working in publishing, I had been a climbing guide and had experience with wilderness first aid and high-angle rescue. I missed the adrenaline rush of rescue work, and doing something a little less self-indulgent—helping other people—had its appeal. I called the local volunteer EMS squad and started as a driver. One thing led to another, and I got my EMT card and went through the paramedic program. I am now a paramedic with Mobile Life Support Services in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley. I have been a paramedic with Mobile Life for five years.

What was your inspiration for your book?

Mahon: My inspiration for Joel Meets the Paramedics was a conversation I had with a coworker. I had recently gone on light duty while pregnant with my first child, and a coworker asked me if I could write her a story for EMS Week that she could read to children. She told me she’d had a hard time finding a good children’s book that really explained the job of a paramedic to kids. I did more research and found a few options but was unable to find a book that did a thorough job of explaining the profession and what it is truly all about. Then the pandemic hit in March 2020, and I was sent home due to my desk job. I decided I needed something to do, so I wrote my own children’s book on the topic.

Horowitz: I wanted to do a book that was for EMS workers and their families. So few people have any idea what our days are like! I wanted Emergency Monster Squad to be the book an EMT or medic could bring home to their family and say, “This is what I do!”

What is your writing process? How did you come up with the story? How long did it take to complete? What about the illustrations?

Mahon: My writing process is very simple: I spent a few days brainstorming ideas and what I wanted to show that paramedics do; then I wrote a story, edited it myself, and sent it to a lot of friends. I had others read it and went through an informal editing process. I then asked my good friend Lindsay Maiorano, who is an artist, if she would help me in creating a book. She was also off due to the pandemic and drew some pictures. We then created the book! After feedback from family and friends and a lot of improving the story and illustrations, I then designed the book and self-published it. I came up with the story as a simple one children could understand and that was not too gruesome or upsetting to kids. The entire process took a few months.

Horowitz: It was a big challenge to find a way to make a book about EMS that was appropriate for kids. Our work can be pretty grim! Originally my main characters were two salty ghosts who just wanted to eat lunch, but my editor pointed out that maybe the crew should actually want to help people. That was a good point! I decided to frame the story around a human paramedic and an EMT partner who is a real monster who get sent on calls whenever anyone says the word “Quiet!” Once I decided to work the whole Q-word thing into the mix, the story basically wrote itself. The crew gets only slightly frazzled, and I kept the calls pretty silly; no one wants to hear about purulent bed sores or a patient who soiled themselves in a kid’s book. This book took about two years from start to finish—much longer than my other books, since I was working EMS full-time when I wrote it. I actually made sketches in the front of my rig between calls! Before I started EMS, publishing was my full-time gig, and a book would take about a year to go through writing, editing, and final art.

What do you hope readers get from your book?

Mahon: I hope readers get the idea that paramedics will always come in a time of need. I don’t want children to ever be afraid to call 9-1-1 if they or someone else is very sick or hurt. I also hope kids can learn paramedics are more than lights and sirens and there are a lot of other things we do inside an ambulance. I want parents to be able to talk about the profession to their kids and help inspire excitement about a possible future profession they could have.

Horowitz: I hope young readers will learn what a day on the ambulance is like. I hope adult readers will learn to pull to the right and stop to let us go by. Most important, I hope readers will learn not to use the word quiet around us!

What advice would you give to other EMS professionals considering writing children’s books?

Mahon: The advice I would give anyone who wants to write a children’s book is to just do it! Write the book you want to write, write the book you’ve been unable to find, and then believe in it! Have fun in the process and know that while it is going to be challenging at times, it is always worth it in the end. Also, don’t skip a good editor!

Horowitz: I broke in to publishing in a different age—the Internet was barely a thing, and e-books did not exist. I imagine the advice I used to give would still apply: Find a publisher doing work you admire and then approach them with only your strongest work when it is ready.

How can readers find your book?

Mahon: The book is self-published can be purchased from my website, jessicamahon.com.

Horowitz: I’m published by Penguin-Random House, and it can be purchased at either www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/548284/emergency-monster-squad-by-dave-horowitz/ or Amazon.

Barry Bachenheimer, EdD, NREMT/FF, is a 35-year veteran of EMS and the fire service. He is a frequent contributor to EMS World and author of the EMS children’s book Please Don’t Dance in My Ambulance, available at Lulu Press or Amazon.