Producer Stephanie Allain and Jenny Klion Encourage Kids to Have 'Agency' of Their Bodies (Exclusive)

The co-authors shared the cover of their forthcoming picture book, 'Who's In Charge?' — which details children's rights “to take charge of their own bodies, voices, and choices"

Producers Guild of America president Stephanie Allain and writer Jenny Klion have exclusively revealed the cover of their forthcoming children’s book with PEOPLE.

Allain, known for her work on films like Boyz n the Hood and Hustle & Flow, and the founder of production company Homegrown Pictures, teamed up with best friend Klion, a writer and essayist, to pen Who’s In Charge?, a picture book that will be released next year from Candlewick Press. The book is illustrated by Marissa Valdez.

“It was very organic,” Allain tells PEOPLE of the writing process. “There was no end zone. It was just, how do we articulate what we're feeling? You know what I mean? And that's how it started.”

Who’s In Charge? is aimed at children ages 2-5 and explores the rights of kids “to take charge of their own bodies, voices, and choices,” according to a press release from Candlewick Press. Allain and Klion, who have been friends for over 40 years since they first met at an off-campus radio show when they were students at UC Santa Cruz, each had their own experiences that inspired the book’s topic. Allain recalls a memory of her granddaughter, who was born during the coronavirus pandemic, and who had “been kept aside” before a vaccine was available.

“When we finally brought her out when she was one, people love a new baby, so they'll go in on it hard, touching, tickling, the hair, the chin, under the arm,” Allain says. “People are so invasive with kids, they don't even realize it. When that happened, she just put her hands up like, ‘No. No.’ And I saw that. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, she already has agency.’”

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Klion, who is a survivor of sexual assault, per the Candlewick Press press release, says she reflected on past experiences, which helped inspire the book for her.

“I began to put together pieces of my past. And so when certain things came to light in my head and mind about abuse from the past, of course I called Stephanie,” Klion says.

“We just started having this conversation about how important it is for kids to learn at the very outset that their body is their temple, and that they have agency over every part of their body,” Allain adds.

It took Allain and Klion one week to write the book. After Allain brought the project to her agent, the two found themselves in a 3-way book auction within three days.

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“Sometimes art just comes together organically and easily,” she says. The title, she notes, is also a play on her job as a producer: Allain says she always says, “I’m in charge,” and the book presents a new way of looking at that.

Klion also agrees that Who’s In Charge? will provide young readers with a sense of self-worth and agency, and that is a large part of its influence.

“I really hope that from reading that book and experiencing that story, that they will feel self-empowered, that they have their agency over their own bodies, voices, and choices,” she says. “That's kind of our line from that. They are their own best advocator, and it's important to honor that autonomy.”

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Writing the book together also proved to be an important arc in Allain and Klion’s friendship, as well as the book's message.

“It's our love for each other,” Allain says. “Because Jenny is one of my best friends, and wanting to put something out into the world that could prevent somebody else from being put in a bad situation…it makes me feel it's possible.”

Who’s In Charge? will be published on August 6, 2024 by Candlewick Press.

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