<p><strong>D</strong>anda the Panda is an adventurous creature.</p><p>The main character in Terri Roberts-Leonard’s debut children’s book loves discovering new things around her home. Danda adores her family and enlists them to help on her excursions. Her personality is filled with happiness and curiosity and love.</p><p>Danda is all of those things. But Roberts-Leonard also wanted to include another important detail — that she happens to be adopted.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>“I think it is important to normalize adoption so that kiddos who are adopted do not feel like outcasts,” the Greenwood resident said. “It’s important to help kids learn early that families take all different shapes and are made in many different ways.”</p><p>Roberts-Leonard drew from her own life as the mother to three adopted children to write the book. “Danda the Panda: Welcome to My World” tells the tale of the titular panda for whom adoption is a part of the story, but not her defining characteristic.</p><p>The hope is that people enjoy the characters and the story, while also thinking a little bit more purposefully about the world around them.</p><p>“I want something joyful. Something people will enjoy while sitting down with the kids or grandkids or whoever, and take joy from that,” Roberts-Leonard said. “It’s meant to be happy and fun.”</p><p>“Danda the Panda” is dedicated to Roberts-Leonard’s three children — Jaylynn, 6, Justin, 5, and Jordan, 1. Seeing that dedication, and their names, in print once the books were finished was a thrill for the three children, Roberts-Leonard said.</p><p>All three kids are adopted. She and her husband, Eddie, brought them together into their home in January. The adoption experience is one that has had a profound impact on their family, and it helped inspire this project, Roberts-Leonard said.</p><p>“I wanted to do something to kind of leave a legacy for them, and do something for them doing the work to kind of normalize adoption,” she said. “That can be difficult, but kids can grasp that.”</p><p>Roberts-Leonard’s career is centered on inclusiveness. As the director of diversity and inclusion at Franklin College, she had dedicated her life to service, education and improving the community. Her work at Franklin College has led her to be a professional mentor for several individuals in the field of higher education as well as several undergraduate students.</p><p>She serves on the board of directors for Windrose Health Network and the United Way of Johnson County, and is a part of the county’s community coalition for Turning Point Domestic Violence Services. Roberts-Leonard serves on the Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation, as well as the diversity and equity committee for Clark-Pleasant Schools.</p><p>In a normal year, her many commitments would dominate her time. But the COVID-19 pandemic left her with some extra time to tackle the project.</p><p>“I thought about writing a book for a long time. But I didn’t know about what. I wanted it to be purposeful and meaningful,” she said.</p><p>Roberts-Leonard knew the theme and tone of the book she wanted to write. But she had to figure out what the character of Danda would be all about. She was torn between making her main character a human or an animal of some kind.</p><p>Eventually, she gravitated towards writing an animal character, as animals are more universal and easy to relate to. Then Roberts-Leonard made Danda a panda.</p><p>“I was thining of different animals and characters that I know are already out there. There are some pandas out there — Kung-Fu Panda, or Combo Panda from ‘Ryan’s World.’ But they’re all action characters. I thought this was an opportunity to write one that was a normal kid,” she said.</p><p>“Danda the Panda” was envisioned as the start of a series, following along with Danda and her family and friends to help learn about different topics that people deal with. The initial book would serve as an introduction, Roberts-Leonard said.</p><p>Despite the fact that Danda is adopted, the story does not center on that fact, Roberts-Leonard said. Readers pick up on that implicitly, as it’s woven into the details of her life and the people she encounters every day.</p><p>“It’s a part of their identity, but it’s not their whole identity,” Roberts-Leonard said. “I wanted the kids to get the know the character and be interested in the things they do and the adventures they take.”</p><p>“Danda the Panda: Welcome to My World” came out in October, and is available on Amazon. Signed copies are available at Wild Geese Bookshop in Franklin. People can also follow the adventures of Danda in future books on the Danda the Panda Facebook page, or on Instagram at @lovemakesafamilystories.</p><p>Roberts-Leonard hopes that in her creation, people can find some sweetness to brighten up their day.</p><p>“It’s been such a hard year, with so many disturbing things going on and so much conflict, this is something happy and nice — a rainbow in dark skies,” she said.</p>
