The Flying Bus

Erin Mary McLain was in the eighth grade when she wrote and illustrated The Flying Bus. Erin loved small children, especially infants, and one night when she was eight years old, she announced at the dinner table that she wanted to be a pediatrician. She never wavered from that goal. After graduating from the University of Arizona, she moved to a rural community on the edge of Arizona’s Fort Apache Reservation to fulfill her dream of community service through helping the less fortunate. She only got to practice 21 months before her life was taken from her by a medical error after a tonsillectomy. Erin received many plaques for academic achievement. When she died, it was found that most of the boxes remained unopened. She hadn’t cared about awards. Her only goal had been to become the best pediatrician she could possibly be. Royalties from sales of this book go to the Erin Mary McLain, MD, FAAP Educational Foundation, whose purpose is the prevention of unnecessary deaths related to minor and major surgery and other medical procedures, as well as to fund doctors in pediatric residency who wish to establish a practice in a rural area. “If we have healthy children, we have healthy adults.” Erin Mary McLain