Last year, seniors Amal Ahmed and Catherine Khamnouane wrote and illustrated the children’s book How to Be a Superhero for a project in American Studies (AmStud). It is the story of a little girl who dreams of being a superhero, but is still searching for her superpower. In the end, she finds her power through helping others.

“I think the inspiration really came from all of the thousands of books I’ve read as a child and as a young adult,” author Ahmed said.

Originally, the story began as an assignment over the Great Depression. To ease the effects of the recession, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935, which employed millions of people to join the workforce.

“His idea was that if he hired people into the economy, the economy would improve,” AmStud teacher Kristin Taylor said, “and so he hired artists and writers to help society.”

The WPA also employed musicians, actors, and directors for media, theatre and literacy projects. The assignment was to create a type of artwork that could help society in some way.

“I decided to work with Amal because she wanted to write and I wanted to draw, so we came together,” illustrator Khamnouane said. “We wanted to make a comic book feel because of the whole superhero concept.”

The finishing product was How to Be a Superhero. The girls used online programs to make their story come to life.

“We used Kickstarter and CreateSpace,” Ahmed said. “It really empowered us creatively to create and publish our own work.”

Along with uploading and selling the book online at the Amazon store, the girls printed close to 150 copies. Some are at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, the Children’s Advocacy Center and at a few stores. The girls also donated copies to the Boys and Girls Club in Dallas, where they handed one book to each child and read to them.

“I hope people see our book and feel like they can really make an impact,” Ahmed said. “However small it seems, it still matters.”