(keyboard tapping) (bell chimes) - Hi, I'm Tonya Abari, and this is "The Six Triple Eight".

"The Six Triple Eight" is about a battalion during World War II, predominantly Black women battalion, who went overseas to save the United States mail.

There were 17 million pieces of mail backlogged in England, and the United States Army needed a troop to get letters, packages to families and also to soldiers.

They had to come up with a system, and they had six months to do it.

They were able to go through this log and get those 17 million pieces of mail out in three months.

(jaunty music) Imagine being thousands and thousands of miles away and not being able to talk to your loved ones.

So these letters and this mail was really the glue for the soldiers and those who were overseas serving and for their family members and friends and loved ones back home.

I had not heard of the Six Triple Eight.

And they were essentially left out of the history books.

I really connected with their stories individually, and I felt like they were speaking through me as I was working on the project.

I doubled down and wanted to do this in a picture book format.

As a teacher, and why it was so important for me to go through this medium is because picture books are such catalysts for important conversations because it encourages students to deduce and make connections based on what they're seeing in addition to the words.

It helps students who are different types of learners kind of dig in and really get involved in the story.

I'm glad that they're getting the recognition that they, you know, deserve and that the story hopefully will live on forever.

Thanks so much for watching "A Word on Words".

I'm Tonya Abari, and keep reading.

(jaunty music)