Last Updated on 2nd April 2020 by Caroline Haye
Snow White’s Seven Patches
I wish there had been a vitiligo story for children like Snow White’s Seven Patches when I was a child, trying to come to terms with my patchy skin. This delightful modern fairytale puts a contemporary twist on the classic Brothers Grimm story and has as its heroine a beautiful young girl with vitiligo.
If you have a child with vitiligo, they are sure to find this book entertaining and empowering. The story will help them understand their skin condition in a positive way. And it will show them that no one should feel the need to hide their vitiligo patches – or their talents – from the world. Most importantly, it will let them know that they are beautiful and lovable because of who they are and how they treat others, regardless of anyone else’s preconceived ideas about beauty or perfection.
The author: Jewel Kats
Canadian children’s author Michelle Meera Katyal, who sadly died in 2016 at the age of just 37, wrote under the name of Jewel Kats. No stranger to pain and illness in her own life, she became a champion of children living with with disabilities and difficult circumstances. She did this through her writing by creating young heroes and heroines facing the same daily challenges as themselves… The common theme of each story being that love, kindness and self-worth are what really matter and that these values possess the power to overcome life’s adversities.
The author interview that never happened
I was especially sad to learn of Michelle / Jewel’s death because, although I never met her in person, our paths briefly crossed when we exchanged a series of emails a couple of years prior to her passing. She had just finished writing Snow White’s Seven Patches and contacted me, via my vitiligo blog, to create awareness of its imminent publication. As far as I knew, it was the first children’s story to feature vitiligo in the storyline and I remember thinking what a marvellous idea it was.
I duly read the book and found the story so engaging and uplifting that I asked Jewel if she would like to do an interview on the blog to promote it. But, although she enthusiastically agreed, we had to postpone the interview because Jewel’s chronic ill health had deteriorated, leading to a surgical operation and further complications after that.
We kept in touch with brief emails over the following year during which I was touched by a warm, life-affirming sincerity in her words that seemed to match the sparkle in her chosen pen name. One sentence in particular from one of her messages stayed with me because it seemed to sum up what her life’s work was all about…
I only wish to bring happiness to each and every child.
Jewel Kats
While her life was clearly too short and far from easy, due to her poor health, Jewel Kats did ground-breaking work as an advocate for disability and her books will continue to be a lasting legacy of love and empowerment for children who face physical and mental hardship in their own lives.
(If your interest in vitiligo stories for children extends to adult fiction, see A psychological romance about life and vitiligo)
