Doctor at Heart

Joan Schoettler is a children’s author and professor of children’s literature and storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Her book The Honey Jar won the Gold Medal for Juvenile Books at the 2024 California Book Awards and was a 2024 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Joan lives in central California with her husband. Visit her at JoanSchoettler.com.Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and character designer born and raised in Virginia. She received her BFA in Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Steffi focuses on crafting a diverse range of characters and unique stories and is the illustrator of Joan Schoettler’s A Doctor at Heart, Chris Barton’s Moving Forward, and J.E. Bright’s Wonder Woman: The Way of the Amazons. For more information about Steffi, please visit SteffiWalthallArt.com.

As a boy, Vivien Thomas dreamed of becoming a doctor, even though Black doctors were rare in his community. . . . After accepting a position as assistant to Dr. Wilfred Blalock, head of the surgical research laboratory at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Thomas patiently shared his knowledge with medical students. Later, he followed Dr. Blalock to Johns Hopkins, where they worked to develop a surgical technique to save the lives of children with “blue baby syndrome." Schoettler approaches her subject with admiration and offers several examples of the roadblocks that prevented him from fully achieving his dream of attending medical school. This attractive picture-book biography encourages students to aim high, work hard, and keep moving toward their goals. Illustrated with handsome scenes reflecting Thomas' era, Schoettler's engaging narrative emphasizes his devotion to his dream of becoming a doctor and the great respect he earned from others along the way.