“Warrior Princess”: a book written by mother and daughter about their battle with leukemia

Front from left to right: Lainie Wolter, Shoni Anderson and Denver Anderson. Back row from left to right: Jeff Anderson, Becky Anderson, Sevenia Wolter and Jc Anderson.

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

Shoni Anderson is a second grader at McGaughey Elementary who battled Leukemia the last few years and had her ring the bell date last summer. Shoni and her mother Becky Anderson decided to write a book about everything the “Warrior Princess” had to overcome.

In January, Shoni was admitted to the hospital with a fever and respiratory problems. It ended up being pneumonia, and a nurse told Becky that she should write a book for all Shoni and herself have been through. Shoni overheard and said she wanted to write a book.

“Since we had a lot of downtime, we talked our way through the book. What it would be called, what the pictures would look like, and eventually she rattled on and on what the content/words would be. I just typed it all into a note in my phone. A few months later, my oldest daughter Sevenia told me I should write a book, and I told her I had with Shoni,” Becky Anderson said.

From there, Becky and Shoni found a publishing company, and they helped them with the whole process. The book was named “Warrior Princess.”

“We approved the final edit at the end of July, and decided to wait to announce the release on September 1 because September is National Leukemia Awareness Month,” Becky Anderson said. “We decided on Shoni’s elementary school, McGaughey, for her first book signing because that’s where the bulk of her treatment happened. During all of her kindergarten and 1st grade, she was in the heat of her battle. The teachers and staff there took such good care of her as she had two very nontraditional school years.”

Last Wednesday, Becky and Shoni hosted a book signing in Becky’s hometown of Sullivan at the public library. They have two more planned for now. October 18 at the Mt. Zion Public library from 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. This one is because so many people didn’t receive their copy before the first signing and Becky hadn’t anticipated a delay from Amazon.

The last one scheduled for now is November 16 at the Central A&M elementary school. The librarian is taking preorders for books from their students, and Becky can order them directly from the publishing company, and then they will be given out Nov ember 16 which is their book fair. Shoni will sign the books and hand them out herself.

Books can be ordered through Amazon, or at several retailers such as Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Blio, and Gardners.

“If any other schools wanted to do a book fair/signing with us, please reach out,” Becky Anderson said. “Shoni would love to do more of those because she gets to interact right there with the students.”

Becky Anderson may be reached at becky.andersonpcw@gmail.com.