At CURE, we aren’t fans of any particular football team. But we are big fans of the children’s book, Roll Tide Roll! because its author has a heart as big as her elephant characters. The beautifully illustrated story follows a typical game day on the Tuscaloosa campus and these elephants have a special purpose. Not only are they cheering on their team to victory, they are also hoping to cure childhood cancer.

This is Emily Gaddy’s second book. Her first, entitled Go Bulldogs!, is about her alma mater, the University of Georgia. She chose Alabama this time because of a local boy named Eli. In March of 2015, Eli was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma at the age of thirteen and is in a trial drug treatment and thankfully, his latest scan results were very encouraging.

Eli is a big Alabama Crimson Tide fan, so Emily decided to write about his favorite team. While she knew all about the Bulldogs from her own college experience, she had to draw heavily on Eli and his family to develop her Alabama story. Taking it a step further, Eli’s likeness and that of his family and friends are drawn into the story and she is donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of Roll Tide Roll! to CURE Childhood Cancer in his honor.

If you are an Alabama fan, you NEED this book and when you buy it, know that you are helping CURE to find safer and more effective cures for childhood cancer. Whoever you are cheering for in this week’s National Championship game, this is a bandwagon we all need to jump on.

Thank you, Emily for joining us in the battle against childhood cancer.

Roll Tide Roll! from Mascot Books is available from Emily’s website, www.emilygaddy.com,