From: Katie Day <day.katie>
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 08:18:57 +0800

Laura,

Your mention of your son being born missing part of a chromosome reminded me of one of my favorite books about infants and literature: "Cushla and her Books", Dorothy Butler's narrative (first her master's thesis (1975), then an article in Signal (the UK journal) (1977), then a book (1979)) about her severely developmentally delayed granddaughter and the important role that books played in her life, starting from the very beginning. (Cushla's problem was also related to chromosomes, as I recall.)

Butler's classic "Babies Need Books" (1980, 1988, 1995) was my major guide when I had my premature twins 17 years ago in the UK. I kept searching for her recommendations in every library and bookstore, new and used, I went into -- and it was always worth it. As a New Zealander, her choices cover the UK, Australian, and New Zealand canon (with some overlap of the American as well, of course) and the third edition is now ten years old, so the books can be harder to find -- though the Internet makes that a lot easier now.
(And if you come to trust Butler, you would then be interested in her book
"Five to Eight", which recommends books for the early school years.)

-- Katie Day

day.katie at gmail.com katie.appleton.day at gmail.com Singapore

On 11/8/05, Laura Tillotson <ltillotson at ala.org> wrote:
>
> When my son George was born, my husband made me promise that I wouldn't
> turn into one of those people who yammers about their children in the
> workplace (or even worse, writes about their kids in a professional
> setting), but I'm breaking my pledge here because witnessing George's
> response to board books has been one of the most joyful experiences of
> parenthood. As I wrote once in a Book Links editorial (another time the
> promise was broken), George was born missing part of a chromosome, and
> he has numerous developmental delays and medical issues to contend with,
> but you would hardly know that watching him study the pages of Byron
> Barton's My Car (an all-time favorite), Richard Scarry's I Am a Bunny,
> or any of the previously mentioned Helen Oxenbury books. Lift-the-flap
> books command his attention too--his copies of Where Is Spot? and Karen
> Katz's What Does Baby Say? are getting more dog-eared by the day.
>
> I could go on and on about this, but I will end by saying that George's
> excitement for books makes me feel so lucky to work in the field of
> children's publishing. The fact that babies and toddlers of all levels
> and abilities are able to respond to quality board books is truly
> wonderful, and it's exciting to see that some of the therapists who work
> with George incorporate books into their sessions. As educators and as
> parents we need to keep spreading the word about how beneficial it is to
> expose the youngest children, and especially young children with special
> needs, to quality literature.
>
> Laura Tillotson
> Editor, Book Links magazine
>
Received on Mon 07 Nov 2005 06:18:57 PM CST