Ella Perrin

10/27/15
Reflection 2
The profession that I covered for my project is that of being a
pediatrician, because that is a career that has always appealed
strongly to me because I love kids and health, so a job that is focused
on keeping kids healthy really appeals to me. I wrote a childrens book
about a pediatrician that had the intent of teaching kids more about
pediatricians so they see them as good, caring people who want to
help them instead of scary strangers with needles. Therefore, my
audience was children. Childrens books are supposed to be short and
not have many words, and children dont understand many big words
and concepts associated with the field of pediatrics, so that was a
challenge for me in my project. I ended up adding another section at
the back of the book specifically for parents, entitled A Mommys
Guide to Pediatricians. The purpose of this section was to educate
mothers more about pediatricians so that they feel more comfortable
taking their children to the doctor. It also allowed me to add more indepth information about the profession that would not have made for a
good childrens book.
I described the path that people must take to become a
pediatrician in the actual childrens book, and in the section for the
parents I went into much more detail about exactly how much time and
effort it takes to become a pediatrician; this was the bulk of the

Mommys Guide, and the main tool in convincing them that

pediatricians are knowledgeable, qualified and will take good care of
their children. I also discussed in the childrens book why pediatricians
are so important, their daily schedule, who they work with, pediatric
specializations, the challenges of being a pediatrician, and the benefits
of being a pediatrician. In the section for parents, I went into detail
about different pediatric specialties, so they could use this as a guide if
their child was having a specific problem and they needed to know the
best person to contact. I also went into more detail about the
challenges of being a pediatrician. The main challenge of being any
type of doctor, besides feeling responsible when people dont get
better, is malpractice. This is a concept that I had a lot of trouble
describing in the childrens book because children do not even
understand the concept of suing someone. I included it in the
parents section because it is a very important word to be familiar with
in order to be any type of doctor. In the section for parents I also
discuss in more detail the benefits of being a pediatricianhow
important and rewarding it is to work with the same people for such an
extended period of time, and how that means that the doctor really
gets to know the kids. I also discussed the salary of a pediatrician,
which is at first glance a major benefit, but on further research is tied
for the lowest salary of any professions that require med-school, which
means that the people doing it are really doing it because they care

about their patients. This is another important piece of information in

assuring parents that their children are in good hands.
I conducted all of my research online, because since I was
looking at such a specific profession it was easy to find lots of
information about it, such as the process in becoming a pediatrician
and the annual average salary of pediatricians. There were actually a
surprising number of blogs written by pediatricians, which was very
helpful in my research. I read a lot of them, and from there was able to
learn a lot about what pediatricians do every day, as well as the
challenges and benefits of being a pediatrician. I actually learned
about a lot of other tasks that pediatricians do, like making rounds at
hospitals before they come into their pediatric office every day, which I
did not realize previously that pediatricians did. I also learned that
even though it seems like pediatricians have really nice schedules,
they are normally up at around 5am to do rounds, and often have to
stay late at night because people unexpectedly need them. I also
learned that doctors are always late because emergencies often come
up with their other patients, and they have to leave in the middle of
the day to visit them in the hospital and make sure they are okay.
I ended up only including information that was directly relevant
to the different topics that I decided to discuss in my book (the path to
becoming a pediatrician, why pediatricians are so important, their daily
schedule, who they work with, pediatric specializations, the challenges
of being a pediatrician, and the benefits of being a pediatrician). I

decided that this was the most important information for a family who
is taking their child to a pediatrician to know in order to make them
feel comfortable and safe bringing their kid there, without
overwhelming them with information that could make them more
nervous. I think that it was important to include the daily schedule
because it makes pediatricians seem more human, and it makes
parents hopefully be more understanding if their doctor is always
running late. The challenges of being a pediatrician were also included
to make parents be more understanding of the hard things
pediatricians have to deal with. The path to becoming a pediatrician
was also very important because it shows how knowledgeable they are
so that they seem more trustworthy. The pediatric specialties section
was mostly just for the purpose of providing information to parents that
they could possibly need in the future. Who pediatricians work with is
important to know because these are other people you see when you
go to the pediatrician, so it is important to feel comfortable with them
too. The benefits of being a pediatrician were important to include
because it shows that pediatricians love their job and really want to be
doing it. I think that all of the information I included was important in
making both children and their parents feel more comfortable going to
the pediatrician.
My text puts information about pediatricians in very simple
terms. It is a book that children can understand, so it should not be too
difficult for anyone to be able to learn something from it. The exigence

for this book is that children are terrified of and dread going to the
doctor, and parents of young children are also worried about taking
their children to the doctor at first. In the childrens book, I mostly
appeal to pathos to convince the children that pediatricians are very
nice people. I drew lots of colorful, happy pictures of doctors and happy
people in doctors offices. There is also somewhat of an appeal to
ethos, because the narrator is a child telling other children that
pediatricians are nice people, so children are more likely to believe a
fellow child. Providing more information to the child and the parent so
that they feel more comfortable is an appeal to logos, because it
provides facts and statistics to convince the reader. The parents
section uses a lot of logos, because it lists out all the steps it takes to
become a pediatrician, which convinces the parents that they are
trustworthy people. There is also an appeal to pathos targeted at the
parents, because their kids are the most important thing to them, and
this book uses the appeal that these doctors are very intelligent and
care about the kids they work with very much, so the children are in
great hands.
I adopted the voice of a child talking about his moms job as a
pediatrician. This choice what rhetorically appropriate because my
audience was children, so they are going to trust another child telling
them that pediatricians are nice and caring people more than an adult
who is the one making them go see the doctor in the first place. In the
parents guide to pediatricians at the end, I adopted a more formal

tone, which made the information that I was giving the parents seem
more trustworthy than if it was coming from a child. I spoke as if I was
another parent who understood the stress of bringing your child to the
doctor at first, and reassured them that pediatricians are people that
you can trust with your children. I also cited the sources where I got my
information, which made me seem more credible as an author.
I arranged this text in a way where the child narrator first
introduced his mother, the pediatrician. Then, he gave an introduction
on exactly what pediatricians do, and why they are so important to
childrens lives, in order to make sure that kids were clear on what a
pediatrician is. From there, the narrator went into more detail about
the specifics of pediatricians. At the end, I included a section that went
into more depth about pediatricians that was for the parents, which
gives them the extra information they might be wondering about
regarding pediatricians. I included colorful pictures on each page of the
childrens book, which makes the book appeal to children, and I put a
short paragraph (only around two sentences) at the bottom of each
page discussing the picture. This made it so that the children would be
drawn into the book and would not get bored by too many words
without enough pictures.
I learned that writing a childrens book is harder and more
tedious than it seems. I had all this information that I wanted to
include, and my normal writing style is to just write my train of
thoughts about the information and then go make and make it sound

nicer. I could not do that here, because every time I tried to write my
train of thoughts it came out much too long-winded and complex for
children to read and understand. Also, illustrating a childrens book can
take a long time and be very challenging if you are not artistically
gifted. If I had more time or could re-do the project, I would definitely
like to draw/recruit someone talented to help me draw better
illustrations for the book. I would also try to send it to a company that
could turn it into an actual hardcover book instead of a bunch of paper
stapled together, because I think that would make it better reflect the
medium. I would also go back and ask parents what their main
questions/concerns about taking their child to the pediatrician are, so I
could be sure to address those in the parents section. It is hard to say
if I prefer composing in this method or an academic method. I really
enjoyed composing a childrens book because it was different, required
me to be creative, and I love children so it was fun to write something
targeted at them. It was also very challenging though, and I did not
know how to do it as well as I know how to write an academic essay. I
would say that I am probably a better academic essay writer than
childrens book writer, but maybe with practice that would be different.

Citations
Becoming a medical doctor. About.com.
http://healthcareers.about.com/od/medicalschooldoctors/a/MedResiden
cy.
htm
Board eligibility requirements. AOBOO-HNS.
http://www.aoboo.org/board-eligibility-requirements
Halm, S. (2014). Your Pediatrician.
http://www.yourpediatrician.com/Lifestyle.htm.
Smith, J. (2012). The best-and worst-paying jobs for doctors. Forbes
Magazine.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/07/20/the-bestand- worst-paying-jobs-for-doctors-2/
UNC. (2015). Pediatric specialties. UNC Department of Pediatrics.
https://www.med.unc.edu/pediatrics/specialties
What is a pediatrician? WebMD. http://www.webmd.com/baby/what-isapediatrician?page=2