By Erin Wood
For veteran teacher Tracy Peterson, helping kids find their special way of learning has been a motivation for nearly four decades. This month, one classroom story will find its way into print in the form of a children’s picture book that she hopes will help many children among the 20% that the Yale University Center for Dyslexia and Creativity estimates struggle with dyslexia.
Cartwheels: Finding Your Special Kind of Smart is an ideal story for opening conversations and explaining the basics of dyslexia to children. A vital part of writing this story for Peterson was sharing it in the words of her former student, Sloane LaFrance, who experienced it first-hand.
In the book, lively Sloane loves to make up dances, put on shows, and do art. But as she heads into first grade, nothing frustrates her more than reading. In math, the numbers go together right in her brain, but no matter how hard she looks at letters, and no matter how many times her teacher and parents say “focus,” she would much rather do cartwheels. She feels sad that she isn’t keeping up with her class and isn’t reading the “right way.” Then, she finds out that she has dyslexia.
Join Sloane on her journey to learn to read, gain confidence, and find her own special kind of smart. This 8.5 x 8.5 picture book is available in hardback ($18.95) and paperback ($11.95) at www.etaliapress.comand through local and national booksellers.
A Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs Et Alia Press (www.etaliapress.com). Wood is author of Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives.
