Commander Gander goes to Come From Away: A gentle intro to a dark part of history

Itstarted with a stuffed toy, tucked in her purse.

Dawn Baker thought it would be fun to bring a token of her hometown, Gander, when she went to New York City to see the hit musical, Come From Away.

That token was a small, fluffy goosein flight goggles: the town mascot, Commander Gander.

"Even at the airport here, before we left, I started to take pictures of Commander Gander," Baker said.

She thought it would make a fun Facebook post a photo array of this little goose's adventure to see a musical all about Gander and how people in the town helped stranded travellers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But when she got to the Big Apple, Baker had a big thought: Commander Gander deserved more than just a social media post. He deserved his own book. That's when she got serious about documenting his journey.

"I made sure he got his tickets. I made sure that he bought hot dogs, and all of those things," she told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

"I wanted Commander Gander to have the full experience."

Thus was born a new children's book: Commander Gander goes to Come From Away.

It wasn't much of a stretch for Baker;the children's author and illustrator has published several books about Newfoundland.

Still, she struggled with how to present information about hijackings, plane crashes and what those three digits 9/11 actually represent.

"I did battle with myself a little bit about that," she said, "but this is really a book about 9/12 to 9/16."

Baker hopes the book can be a soft introduction to a dark piece of history that children will eventually learn.

"Start with how people helped, and then later as the child grows older and their understanding increases, then obviously, you could get into why they had to help," she said.

"Who better to do that than Commander Gander?"

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