Educator-activist Sophia Sobko has collected a series of “bedtime stories” for children in the United States with family members who have been deported to Tijuana, reports The Los Angeles Times.

“I went to the library and could not find a single book explaining deportation to a child,” Sobko said. “The closest book about family separation was about divorce or having to move, but that’s not exactly it. This showed me that there is a need. So many kids are growing up so confused and so affected by this.”

Included in the collection called Cuentos Para Dormir, or Bedtime Stories, is a narrative called “The Little Elf,” a tale about a young elf, who, his brothers, battles dragons as they visit their mother in the land of fairies; the narrative was written by Emma Sanchez Paulsen for her three sons living in Vista, Calif.

Despite being married to Michael Paulsen, a US citizen and military veteran, with whom she had three children, Paulsen has been banned from the United States for ten years.

Paulsen told The Times that writing “The Little Elf” “gives her a chance to explain a situation she found hard to clarify for her children, using symbolism, metaphor, and imagery to tell a story of banishment.”

Sobko adds, speaking of the parents living apart from their children, “They have a tremendous amount of guilt and burden. They have this feeling that they are responsible for doing this to their kids and that their kids are suffering and maybe feeling unloved. The stories are powerful because they are real but in an imagined way.”

Sobko originally raised $2,200 to fund the project, but hopes to raise another $1,500 to translate the stories into Spanish and English, create digital videos, and share them on a bilingual website.

Photo Credit: Sophia Sobko.