Title: Knees (The Mixed-Up World of a Boy with Dyslexia)
Author: Vanita Oelschlager
Illustrator: Joe Rossi
Genre: Children’s Books, Mental Health
Rating: 4 out of 5 fairies
Where to buy: Amazon
Synopsis: Knees shows the ups and downs of life with dyslexia. We have done this book in the style and size of a chapter book so that younger children and older children at low reading levels can read what seems to be an older child’s book.
We cover dyslexia’s symptoms and the reasons school can be hard for dyslexics. We talk about some famous people who had or have dyslexia.
The book is endorsed by the head master of a school where many of the children have dyslexia. He has dyslexia himself.
About the Author: Vanita Oelschlager is a wife, mother,grandmother, former teacher, current caregiver and, for almost ten years, author and poet.
She was born and raised near Pittsburgh. She is a graduate of Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio, where she currently serves as a Trustee.
She has also supported and helped Jim as he built Oak Associates, ltd. into a successful investment management firm.
Today, as an accomplished author, Vanita shares openly the experiences that she, Jim and their families have had with multiple sclerosis. She has likened MS to living with an elephant, one that won’t go away or be ignored. Together, she and Jim have found ways to live with this “elephant”, and to share some of the larger lessons about life they’ve learned through the disease.
About the Illustrator: Joe Rossi is an illustrator and graphic designer currently working in Akron, Ohio. Originally from Youngstown, he graduated Cum Laude from Youngstown State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Minor in Art History. He is the recipient of numerous Addy Awards and has had artwork published in the Official Michael Jackson Opus, by Kraken Opus. Knees is his first children’s book.
Review: A cute book, with comic-like illustrations that is a good introduction to dyslexia for small children. Honestly, I wish a book like this had been around when I was younger. I’ve learned to mostly cope with my dyslexia when reading and writing, but it still trips me up when speaking, and stress always makes it worse. Having the kind of encouragement promoted by this book would have gone a long way. This book teaches kids they can do anything they set their minds to, as long as they are willing to put in the work and ask for help when they need it.
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We are (slowly) working on updating old posts to the new format and removing old tour/blitz posts that are now missing key assets – please be patient with us, there are a lot of posts to go through, we’ve been doing this since 2016! Any tour/blitz posts that contained a review and are now missing key assets will be updated to review posts so the reviews remain accessible
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We’re doing our best to get everything up on the site and social media in a timely manner. Apologies if anything is missed or late! Between the state of the US right now, mental/physical health problems, and some things going on in our personal lives, things may be missed or late occasionally. We truly appreciate your understanding! Feel free to reach out to Lily if you notice something missing.
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Mental Health Resources for those in the USA – In light of the recent election, we want to put out a message that LGBTQIA+ and minorities are always welcome here. We may post promos in conjunction with tour companies that spout worldviews we don’t always agree with, but we do our best to avoid any openly phobic posts, and should you notice any, we’d appreciate you contacting us with this form to let us know.
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