Inside The Happy Mask with Aimee Chan

I wrote The Happy Mask because I find the whole experience of interacting with other people in masks very strange. When people are friendly to me in the streets or in a shop, I am always surprised because behind their mask, I cannot see them smiling. That's where the idea of the book came from. 

I wanted to capture a bit about what it must be like for children to have to live without those really important social connections. You cannot exchange a smile with someone or wrinkle your nose at them or make a funny face to exchange a joke. If adults find that difficult, it must be even worse for kids. 

In The Happy Mask I tried to document a bit of the experience of living through this very strange and surreal time of the COVID-19 pandemic from a child's perspective. I wanted to create a time capsule so we could remember what it was like to be homeschooling and trying to work from home and when we had to carry hand sanitiser everywhere. But I also wanted to offer a fun and easy solution for how we might be able to make things just a little bit easier for ourselves and the strangers around us in our community. 

When I wrote the book I really didn't think that we would still be living with the effects of the virus and that so many of us would still be in lockdown and wearing masks. While I am glad my book exists to help families to find a gentle and positive way to process these tough times, I also really hope that soon this will all be over and my book will just be about remembering a strange time that happened long ago. 


Thank you to Aimee for telling us all about the inspiration behind The Happy Mask!
You can find Aimee on Facebook, Instagram, and on her website.

Author Aimee and her wonderful book, The Happy Mask, have recently featured in a local newspaper, The Border Mail. Read the article below!