Jamaican American Kacey Peterkin is the author of a book entitled “We Can All Be Friends,” which is an expression of her wish for a more tolerant and better world. Her book is an illustration of her belief that “We are more alike than we are different.” Kacey is five years old.

Kacey is Jamaican American girl who loves unicorns and everything about them. She is especially drawn to a mythological creature known as an alicorn, which is a combination of the winged horse Pegasus and a unicorn. She is passionate about books, and reading every night with her mother inspired her to take up journaling and creating her own stories. She continually comes up with new ideas that challenge her parents, and when they heard her use the word “alicorn” one day and tried to correct her – they had never heard of an alicorn and thought Kacey meant to say unicorn – the five-year-old told them she had not made a mistake and went on to define the word “alicorn” for them.

Kacey got the idea for writing her book after an unpleasant encounter on the playground that her parents wished had not happened. It was just an average day in the park for Kacey, playing on the slides with a girl she had just met at the playground. The two children were joined at some point by a third girl, who took Kacey’s new friend away, leaving Kacey to play by herself. The other two girls had similar physical features, and Kacey was confused about what happened and what had made the first girl change her behavior. She described the incident to her parents and asked them about it, so they had a long discussion about prejudice, acceptance, and tolerance.

The discussion made Kacey want to tell her story on her YouTube channel, but her parents weren’t comfortable with that, so they suggested she write about it in her journal instead. This allowed Kacey to take control over how the story would end. Her parents then decided they would self-publish Kacey’s ideas as she had expressed them in her journal, along with pictures she had drawn. The book that resulted from this experience reflects the family’s hope that the child’s message of not seeing differences between people will help others realize that “we are more alike than we are different.”

With the help of her parents, Kacey has launched an initiative called #theweneedtodobettercampaign, which is designed to spread the message that any positive change made in the world starts with “the person in the mirror” and that person’s desire to see a world with more tolerance and acceptance of all people.

Kacey’s book “We Can All Be Friends” is a work of fiction for children aged between six and 10 years old. It is available on Amazon. The book’s virtual launch will occur on August 6, 2021.

Kacey can be followed on Instagram, @kacey.sworld, and on her YouTube channel, Kacey’s World.

Photo Source: Instagram