Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio [Paperback]

Peg Kehret (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 3 and up

In a riveting story of courage and hope, Peg Kehret writes about months spent in a hospital when she was twelve, first struggling to survive a severe case of polio, then slowly learning to walk again.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-Although young readers today might only associate the word "polio" with a vaccination, this well-written account gives them a hard look at the devastating physical and emotional effects of the disease. In l949, there were 42,000 cases reported in the U.S.; the author was the only one stricken in her hometown that year. She writes in an approachable, familiar way, and readers will be hooked from the first page on. The author details her diagnosis, treatment, frustration, and pain. Perhaps the most startling part of the book is her description of the sudden onset of the illness, coming with no warning and leaving her paralyzed. Although this is an excellent record of the progress of the disease, it is also a fascinating account of how an ordinary girl with crushes and homecoming dreams had to live for part of her adolescence in an artificial, restricted environment. In the epilogue, Kehret describes her current battle with post-polio syndrome, and brings readers up to date on the lives of her fellow patients and friends at the Sheltering Arms Hospital. An honest and well-done book.
Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. This heartfelt memoir takes readers back to 1949 when the author, at age 12, contracted polio. Using fictionalized dialogue, she describes her seven-month ordeal--her diagnosis and quarantine, her terrifying paralysis, her slow and difficult recuperation--and the people she encountered along the way. Kehret supplies a few words about the illness in a foreword, but because there is little sense of how medicine has evolved since her hospitalization, some children may find the vivid picture she paints scary indeed. Scary, too, is the epilogue, in which Kehret admits to having post-polio syndrome. Curious children who love Kehret's middle-grade thrillers may pick this up, but since there's little about her life as a writer, it will most likely be children interested in medical issues who will follow through. Stephanie Zvirin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 179 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807574589
• ISBN-13: 978-0807574584
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Health > Diseases > Nonfiction
  • #85 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Science & Technology > General

More About the Author

I've published 45 books; all but two are for children. I wrote magazine articles, short stories, and plays for many years before I discovered that what I like best is to write books for kids.
When I was twelve, I was paralyzed with polio. I made almost a full recovery but I remember that time of my life so clearly that it's easy for me to write from the viewpoint of a twelve or thirteen-year-old.
I'm always thrilled when one of my books wins a state young reader award, because I know those awards are voted on by children.
I am a widow who was married for 48 years. I have two grown children and four grandchildren. I live on a small wildlife sanctuary near Mt. Rainier National Park and I often have deer and elk in my yard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking Small Steps, December 14, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio (Paperback)

In Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret, Peg has plenty of friends, a brother, and two loving parents. She's the average middle school girl. How much more normal can you get? One day while in choir class, she has this terrible muscle spasm. That's the beginning of what made her unique.
Peg's temperature rises, and is taken to the hospital, only to find out she has polio, the only case in her town of that year. Peg is immediately put into isolation, where she becomes paralyzed from the neck down, and cannot breathe properly. She develops not only one type of polio, not two, but three types. The author made me feel like I was there, witnessing Peg's discomfort.
Read about Peg's feelings as her polio worsens, then gets better. Share her triumphs and disappointments. You'll be caught up in this book, and you won't want to put it down.
Peg Kehret tells what happens in Peg's fight against polio. The author really makes you feel like you're there. I think people of all ages looking for a good drama will really enjoy this book. It teaches you what happens when you're willing to try anything to get things the way you want them. This book takes you away from your world, and into Peg Shulze's.

MorgTC & CBTherese

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kristies Review for Small Steps, December 8, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio (Paperback)

Kristie Loftus
12/6/04

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio
Peg Kehret
0807574589

Have you ever thought of what it would be like one day, waking up, feeling completely fine, and then you have a muscle spasm, and you find out later that you have a disease that can severely hurt you, or even kill you? In the book, Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio, Peg comes to find that she has three different types of polio. She started off with just a muscle spasm, thinking it was no big deal. She later finds out she has polio. Then she finds out that not only does she have polio, but three different types. She meets a few people in her journey through different hospitals. This story is a page-turner; it's amazing to see how strong some people really are, not on the outside, but on the inside as well.
This book is incredible. People think that their lives are so terrible, but really when you think about it, and you read this book, you realize things aren't as bad as they seem. I mean, I am not one that loves to read, but to hear someone else's story, and about there life, it's shocking. I honestly, would never be able to deal with what she went through. She went from hospital to hospital; she dealt with the mean nurse that made her put hot rags on her skin to help loosen her muscles. I would never be able to handle the stretching, and the hot rags or any of that. It shocked me to hear that polio can kill you. Some of the girls in the room that she stayed with had polio also, Alice has had it since she was little, and her family didn't want a blob sitting/laying around all day. One of the other girls had to lay in an iron-lung, because her lungs were not strong enough to let her breathe on her own. It's sad how none of them can walk very well because of polio. They either walk with walking sticks, wheelchairs, or they walk very slowly with out anything. I could not put the book down. I thought about my life compared to Peg's and the other girls, I would be stupid to try to make people feel bad for me considering what other people go through. I think anybody who likes biographies would enjoy this book. Like I said before, I am not a reader, but I could not put it down. It's hurtful to read about other people's problems, but you learn that life isn't as bad as you might seem to think it is.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Struggles With Polio, September 1, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio (Hardcover)

Small Steps: The Year I got Polio should be read by teens,because it shows how to overcome struggles. It is about a young girl who has been dearly loved all of her life, when suddenly she is ripped out of a loving home and forced to live in a isolation ward. One of her struggles is being paralyzed from the neck down. She cannot move any part of her body except her head. Peg is faced with many hardships throughout the book. For instance she has to endure Sister Kenny treatments which are extremely painful. Overall this book was a fantastic novel about a young girl facing obstacles.