Dr. Cymanthia Thomas joins social media stars Adam Ali and his daughter Samia to bring real-life experiences to the pages of two books…
Egbert Gaye
Not many aspiring stars have the distinction of being featured in the pages of the New York Times especially before their fifth birthday.
Meet Samia Ali, Toronto born daughter of Adam and LaToya Ali, now five years old she is a kid-influencer with more than 143,000 followers on Instagram and over 203,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Children and their families flock to her social media page to share many of her early life adventures from brushing her teeth to learning a new activity.
That’s why former Montrealer Dr. Cymanthia Thomas-Connell, now a family and integrative medicine physician in Atlanta Georgia, is excited to team up with the kiddie on-line phenom and her dad Adam Ali, authoring two books, ‘Samia’s First Day at Gymnastics’ and ‘Samia and Her Electric Toothbrush,’ aimed at helping children navigate through two important life-experiences, confronting fear and anxiety as well as oral hygiene.
The book is being promoted as “age-appropriate stories that will captivate young readers…. “important information about improving children’s self-esteem…” with stories accompanied by “beautiful and full-page illustrations.”
Samia’s First Day at Gymnastics offers parents and caregivers something of a roadmap of how to navigate those wayward emotions that takeover every child, especially fear and anxiety.
“Helping children manage those emotions is very important for me as a family doctor, because my job become easier as soon as we have control over fear and anxiety,” says Dr. Thomas, who is known as “Doctor Cyam” by some and “Auntie Cyam” to others.
She says the message the book conveys, centers around little Samia winning over her fears and anxiety by using simple breathing techniques, something universally accepted as a path to relaxation and control.
Dr. Thomas, who grew up in the west island with her parents Hilton and Cynthia Thomas, attended McGill University before moving to the University of Arizona and Ross University School of Medicine told the CONTACT, says she welcomed the opportunity to write the book together with Adam and his daughter Samia, her distant relatives.
She says Adam Ali, a well-known influencer based in Atlanta and Toronto, who was also born in Montreal has been an able partner in putting together the two books that draws heavily on his daughter’s every-day encounters in life.
“He is (the driving force) behind this book series, which covers a variety of health and well-being topics and meant to offer practical lessons to children and families. ” The books came out of his very close relationship with his daughter Samia.
In the second book, ‘Samia and Her Electric Toothbrush,’ Ali and Dr. Thomas were able to draw from what is an everyday activity for the child and offer young readers opportunities to learn the benefits of proper oral hygiene as well as explore words and terminologies that they might encounter during visits to the dentist.
Dr. Thomas says the books offer some powerful points of attraction to children, parents and caregivers.
“The books speak to them in a language they can understand; the images are also very engaging and all kids will see themselves reflected because of the diversity among the characters.”
The fluently bilingual, young former Montrealer says the books are being translated and will be available in French soon.
The direct Canadian link to purchase the books (either ebook or paperback) is:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/bookseries/B0893RNFHS/
