Stories don’t always need to be written. But Juniper French’s birth was no ordinary story.

She was born at 23 weeks and six days gestation, weighing 1 pound and 4 ounces. During Juniper’s first 196 days, she was in a hospital fighting for her life.

For her parents, Thomas and Kelley French, journalists and professors in The Media School at IU, Juniper’s story had to be told. It became “Juniper: The Girl Who Was Born Too Soon,” published this fall by Little, Brown.

“It would have been journalistic malpractice for us not to write this story,” Tom said.

Juniper’s parents wrote down her story based on Tom’s careful notes, the doctors’ 7,000-page medical chart, photos and videos taken during the time they watched their daughter incubate, and hours of interviews with doctors and nurses conducted after Juniper’s release.

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