The Active Book Project is aimed at addressing the challenges faced by teens in the hospital. It’s already hard to find balance during a time when physical and social changes happen rapidly, but teens in the hospital must cope with these natural stresses in addition to the difficulties of hospitalization. Recognizing the need for teen specific projects we formed a group of volunteers and art therapists to create The Active Book. The Active Book provides personal space for reflection and creativity but with a fun and hip sensibility. The contributions we created and gathered included: coloring pages, comics, sudoku puzzles, interviews, pages from FOUND magazine, short stories, etc.

At the core of The Active Book’s success was our effort to collaborate locally within the community. All work was donated free of charge to the project. We organized and held several workshops at The Neutral Zone (a local teen center) and Mott Children’s Hospital. Locally based artists and musicians donated their time to provide entertainment at our benefit party, and businesses in our community provided goods and services for our raffle. We even selected and worked closely with a local family owned printer to create the final product instead of sending it off for overseas printing. In the end, community spirit played a leading role in developing the book and raising funds to have it printed and distributed so that the end result is an amazing book, free for the patients.

Photos by Elizabeth Walker