Local author pens children’s book about her late brother

Rachel Raysor-Henry remembers her late brother Kevin as an energetic, confident child whose smile and energy could light up a room.

Kevin delighted in jumping on beds, making armpit sounds, and riding his bike. He loved Michael Jackson, idolized Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and relished a family trip to Disney World and his mother’s German chocolate cake.

He was also the kind of kid who stepped in when his friends were bullied.

“There was just a boldness about him,” Raysor-Henry said.

When Kevin died in 1993 at age 11 after a long illness, Raysor-Henry was 7 years old.

Kevin’s death, which was compounded by her father’s death on her birthday four years later, left Raysor-Henry with a deep sense of loss she wasn’t equipped to deal with as a child.

“I didn’t know how to process it,” said Raysor-Henry, now 39, a Patchogue resident and married mother of three.

As a youngster, Raysor-Henry turned to poetry to help her express feelings she found heard to speak about.

More recently, Raysor-Henry has poured her feelings into a children’s book she wrote about Kevin, called “How Kevin Found Joy!”

“It’s moments of Kevin and how he exuded joy under the circumstances, kept his faith and trusted in God,” Raysor-Henry said. It’s her first published book.

She hopes the book, which was published in May 2024 and is for sale on Amazon, will start important conversations for people, including children, experiencing not just the loss of a loved one, but grief of all kinds.

Raysor-Henry said the book is geared to children ages 5 to 9, but “it can be good for adults, too,” she said.

Michelle Raysor, Kevin and Rachel’s mother, said the book shows “there’s joy in life you can experience.”

Kevin was “sick a lot,” she said. “But that didn’t stop him.”

Raysor-Henry said the book’s illustrations, which were done by Alyssa Lasko, capture Kevin’s spirit and love for life.

“She definitely brought to life what I imagined,” Raysor-Henry said.

Writing the book was a cathartic experience, said Raysor-Henry, who works as a coordinator for an orthopedic surgery practice and worked previously as a nurse with children with serious medical conditions.

“It helped me understand wounds I didn’t understand as a child,” she said.

Raysor-Henry, a 2004 William Floyd High School graduate, will do a book reading and sign copies of “How Kevin Found Joy!” at CoHo Coffee House, in Patchogue, on April 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Rob Cutrone, CoHo’s owner, said the coffee house hosts a lot of events for small businesses.

Cutrone said he was on board when Raysor-Henry asked whether she could do a book signing and reading at CoHo.

Cutrone, the father of two small children, said the book is definitely something that will resonate with parents of young children.

“It’s a beautiful story,” he said. “The way she highlights her brother Kevin is definitely something I hope more people get behind and support,” Cutrone said.

Raysor-Henry said she hopes her book will help readers deal with grief while finding the joy in life, as Kevin did.

Kevin’s story “was meant to be told,” Raysor-Henry said. “And I was meant to tell it.”