One evening during the pandemic, Vivian O’Hara of Murrysville went to sleep with a lot weighing on her mind.

“On the news they’d showed a story about a little boy, seven years old, who rescued his younger sister from a vicious dog attack,” said O’Hara. “He suffered a lot of cuts all across his face and head, and my heart just broke when I saw him. And other kids are going to see that and not understand and maybe make fun of him.”

The next morning O’Hara, 70, got up and quickly wrote what ultimately became “I Didn’t Understand,” the first of two children’s books she has self-published through online platform Book Baby.

The book’s message of acceptance and inclusion is something O’Hara said she sees in young adults.

“I felt like putting that down for even younger children to be able to see was important,” she said. “And there was just so much upheaval and chaos going on in the country at the time, I just felt I needed to write it.”

Through word of mouth, O’Hara connected with local artist and Mars native Maddie Salapow, who provided illustrations for the book. It engages readers with O’Hara’s themes of acceptance and inclusion through a child who encounters people like a war-veteran amputee and a little girl who suffered burn injuries. The child’s mother gently explains what makes people different, but how all people are the same.

O’Hara’s second book, “I Never Thought I’d See or Hear…” leans more toward the whimsical and fantastical, with its tales of fox kings and dancing monkeys wearing pants, brought to life by local artist and illustrator Ben Martin.

O’Hara said her experience with grandchildren — now in their teens — helped her find the right voice in her writing.

“I also used to teach music to elementary kids at Mother of Sorrows in the mid-1980s, and I really feel that if you reach kids at a young age, it stays with them,” she said.

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