Nicole's Story: A Book about a Girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (Meeting the Challenge) [Library Binding]

Virginia Totorica Aldape (Author), Lillian S. Kossacoff (Photographer), li Kossacoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1996 | Age Level: 7 and up | Series: Meeting the Challenge

An eight-year-old girl talks about what her life is like with the disease of JRA or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 5?Eight-year-old Nicole has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Her parents are divorced; she has a cat at her mother's house and a dog at her father's house. She attends Catholic school and likes to draw and read. She suffers a lot of pain, her medicine causes her to gain weight, and she often uses a wheelchair. When Leslie was a baby, meningitis caused brain damage. In spite of her disability, she celebrates her Bat Mitzvah, skis, and takes ice-skating lessons, and has skated in the Special Olympics. She sometimes has to deal with kids who are cruel, but she has friends and an understanding family who support her. Most books about mental retardation for children concern Down's syndrome; this one portrays a different kind of child who has achieved some memorable goals. In both titles, black-and-white photographs, at least one per page, show the girls in their activities at home and at school, which are not very different from those of most middle-class children. The first-person narratives give an all-around view of the special and mundane aspects of their worlds and conclude with information about the condition under discussion.?Martha Gordon, formerly at South Salem Library, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This book informs children about juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and how it affects a person. It illustrates how 8-year-old Nicole is more like other children than different from them. Nicole tells about her everyday life and explains the modifications necessary for her disability...

Several sections of the book provide specific information about...the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. A list of organizations' names and addresses is also provided...

This well-written story provides an excellent way to give children accurate information about a specific disability and what life is like with a disability. Rehabilitation nurses would find this book useful when educating a child who has just been diagnosed with JRA. Nurses involved in community outreach programs and school nurses could use the book to educate students and teachers about the special needs of a classmate with JRA. -- Rehabilitation Nursing, Sep/Oct 1998

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding: 40 pages
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group; 1 edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082252578X
• ISBN-13: 978-0822525783
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,644,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, November 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nicole's Story: A Book about a Girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (Meeting the Challenge) (Library Binding)

I rate this book very high because I have the same disease and I'm 12 and it's amazing that she goes through the same things

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Message, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Nicole's Story: A Book about a Girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (Meeting the Challenge) (Library Binding)

This book sends out a great message to young people stricken down with this painful disease. I was diagnosed with JRA when I was fourteen, and I'm 15 now. Thing is, we aren't stricken down. With the help of medical science and power of God, we'll always find a way to live through yet another day that drags on to feel like an eternity. This is a book every JRA-RA patient should read, young or adult. My love and prayers go out to Nicole and her family, plus all the rest of us with this formerly "crippling" disease. But there's hope if you catch it soon enough. I had it for months before we got a diagnosis.

Goodbye and God Bless

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended reading re: JRA, April 12, 2002

By 

"msaberfla" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicole's Story: A Book about a Girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (Meeting the Challenge) (Library Binding)

It's nice, simple reading for all. As one of the only autobiographies by a person with JRA, Nicole's Story is a nice resource for understanding, sympathizing, and empathizing if you have JRA. My daughter has JRA and I'm sure she'll be glad to have this book so she can see that she is not alone. I think I'll share it with her teachers and classmates too.