What an honor to interview Dr. Andrea!

Press Release:

The Love Tank Helps Young Children Understand the Importance of Extending Kindness to Others

SAN DIEGO, California — When Andrea Mendoza-Vasconez’s 3-year-old daughter found her crying in response to news of a school shooting, the behavioral scientist struggled to find the words to answer her question: “What’s wrong?” Mendoza-Vasconez’s children’s book, The Love Tank, is her answer — and she hopes it will help other parents explain challenging concepts, too.

The book, written for children ages 4-8, guides children in imagining a superpower container inside their bodies that fills up with love. The story explains in gentle terms what can happen when someone's love tank is full or empty and how children can fill their love tanks and help others to fill theirs too.

Mendoza-Vasconez recalls telling her daughter, “While there are no intrinsically ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people in this world, sometimes people do bad things and hurt others because they don't have enough love in their own lives — their love tank is empty.” She further explained, “I always hug you, kiss you and tell you I love you because I want your love tank to be full so you can treat others with kindness and compassion.” 

One of the goals of the book is to help parents explain why someone might harm others in a way that their children can understand. Additionally, the book helps children connect with important values such as empathy, compassion, gratitude and authenticity in a simpler manner.

The Love Tank, which has won many awards, including the prestigious 2024 Nautilus Award for Small Press Children’s Picture Books (silver), is the first in a series of three books, all dealing with socioemotional learning concepts. The other books in the series include The Gratitude Goggles, which guides children as they imagine a special pair of goggles that can appear by simply feeling gratitude; and The Puzzle Piece, which encourages children to imagine that the world is a gigantic puzzle, in which they are unique pieces. 

Since The Love Tank was published, Mendoza-Vasconez has heard from many parents who have used it to help their children who have been bullied understand why. She hopes the book will continue to help children express love by brainstorming how they can fill others’ love tanks.

About the Author

Andrea Mendoza-Vasconez, Ph.D., is an award-winning children's book author, a mother, a behavioral scientist, a teacher, an advocate and a storyteller. She was born and raised in Ecuador and moved to the United States at 18 to attend Connecticut College. After working as a television producer and middle school teacher, she returned to school to earn a master's degree in public health from Claremont Graduate University and a doctoral degree in public health (Health Behavior) from UC San Diego and San Diego State University. She completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University and served as an assistant professor at the Brown University School of Public Health.

When Mendoza-Vasconez became a mother, her love for writing led her to explore storytelling as a way to explain difficult and important topics to her daughter. She uses imagery to communicate concepts such as empathy, compassion, gratitude and authenticity. Eventually, she started writing these stories down and publishing them as picture books to share these messages with other children around the world.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SC9C66