Jennie Renshaw is a busy wife and mother of two small children and a territory manager for a medical sales company, and now the Hopkinton resident can add author to that list. Renshaw recently penned the children’s book, “Contagious: Spread Love Not Germs.”

Like so many other parents these days, Renshaw said it hasn’t been easy explaining to her young children, particularly her 3-year-old son, all the challenges associated with pandemic.

“I’d be speaking to him about germs and why we can’t spread our germs to nana and papa because it might make them sick, that being contagious and spreading germs is a bad thing,” Renshaw explained.

She said she wanted to put a positive spin on the word “contagious” and came up with the idea to write a book for small children explaining there also are good things to spread these days.

“Contagious: Spread Love Not Germs” follows a family of bears and initially discusses the importance of being careful and not spreading germs when sick. The rhyming book then talks about spreading positive things such as kindness, sharing and laughter.

Hopkinton resident Jennie Renshaw is the author of the children’s book “Contagious: Spread Love not Germs.”

“I just thought it would be a cute little message for kids to hear right now,” Renshaw said. “We can make people laugh and be nice and that’s a good thing to spread.”

The last couple of pages of the book are blank to provide little ones an opportunity to color pictures.

Renshaw said she intentionally kept the 16-page book “short and sweet,” understanding all too well a toddler’s attention span.

When the book was complete, Renshaw contacted a company that assists with self-publishing. The company also completed the illustrations. She said it was about seven months until she finally saw her work published.

“When I knew it was on the final step and was waiting for it to be available online to order, I searched for it on Amazon about twice a day,” Renshaw said. “Finally, one day it appeared in my search and I literally screamed out loud and jumped up and down. It was surreal to see it there after so many months of making small baby steps. It was an overwhelming feeling of excitement and pride for finally achieving this accomplishment.”

Renshaw had intended to write professionally for a living, studying journalism in college. However, her career path took a different turn.

“I still always wanted to do something involving writing,” she stated.

And now she can check that achievement off her list.

“Contagious: Spread Love Not Germs” can be purchased online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and is available in hardcover and paperback.