A Place at the Breakfast Table

“Oh, I used to get called all kinds of names. Burnt Toast. Crispy Bacon—Kids can be mean, and so can adults.”

That’s what my mom said during a conversation we had about her burns. I was curious to hear her story. I knew bits and pieces, but not much else. To be honest, I still don’t.

When my mom was a baby, the apartment she lived in caught fire because an unattended candle was left burning.

After a stranger on the street rescued my mom from the burning building, she spent a lot of time in the hospital as a child, most notably at the Shriners Burn Unit in Chicago. When I asked her about her experience, she said she didn’t remember much, but she did remember the nurses.

“The nurses were always there. They would sit with you while you were crying until you fell asleep. The nurses were everything.”

My mom is a survivor, and most of my life, I have heard about how she hated her scars, how strangers stared, and how children were insensitive. Her experience inspired me to write a children’s book about it in a way that children can understand, helping create a safe, understanding, and respectful space.

Burnt Toast doesn’t just raise awareness of burn survivors; it inspires self-love, acceptance, empathy, and the belief that everyone deserves a place at the breakfast table. 

When I was jotting down ideas and workshopping my mom’s experiences into stories, I ended up creating Burnt Toast. My thought process was, why not reclaim a name that has brought her so much humiliation, anger, and pain?  

Burnt Toast was born.

A children’s story that follows Burnie, the burnt toast at the breakfast table, as she journeys toward self-acceptance and understanding what belonging really means. 

I have been excited about this project since its inception because it means so much to me that my mom trusts me enough to share her story.  

If you would like to learn more about the work of the Shriners Burn Unit, you can visit their website here.

-Destany