Sandy Hook Teacher’s Book, ‘Choosing Hope’ Documents Personal Account of the Tragedy

On the morning of December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook first grade teacher, Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis had her 15 students in the classroom, sitting in a circle, sharing their holiday traditions. When she first heard gunshots in the hallway, she told the Daily Mail, "I got up, I closed the door, I turned the lights off, and I turned to my students and said, "We need to get into the bathroom - right now."

Roig-DeBellis used a storage unit to barricade the door of the tiny 3-by-4 foot bathroom until the police arrived.

Her book that she began writing during the summer of 2014 about that nightmarish day called, "Choosing Hope: Moving Forward from Life's Darkest Hours" goes on sale Tuesday, October 6.

Excerpts from the book will be available in the latest People Magazine. On Roig-Debellis's Facebook page it says, "Bad things happen to all of us, but it is not those moments that define us, it's how we choose to react to them that does."

Roig-DeBellis told the Associated Press the book is not about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary on that tragic day, rather, about how to move forward by holding on to hope.

The book was co-written by New York Times best selling author Robin Gaby Fisher, who teaches Journalism at Rutgers University. The publisher said the book will be "a poignant account of personal triumph over unbearable tragedy." Roig-DeBellis is the Executive Director of Classes 4 Classes, whose mission is to teach children the power of kindness and compassion.

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