What Do You Use To Help Your Body?: Maggie Explores the World of Disabilities [Hardcover]

Jewel Kats (Author), Richa Kinra (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2011 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Who are the people with disabilities in your neighborhood? Maggie and Momma love going for walks. During every outing, Maggie learns about something new. Today's no different! Momma has arranged for Maggie to meet lots of people in her neighborhood. They all have different jobs. They all come from different cultures. They all use different things to help their bodies. Maggie doesn't just stop to chit-chat. Rather, she gets to the bottom of things. By asking the right question, she discovers how many people with disabilities use aids to help them out. Let's find out how they work, too!

Children will learn that disabilities occur in every culture

Parents and teachers can accurately explain how various disability aids work

Children will realize that working with a disability is a possibility for some

Therapists can use this book as a motivational tool for patients with disabilities

Kids can satisfy their curiosity about disability aids in an unimposing manner

Therapists' Acclaim:
"This book is just right for a preschooler or young elementary aged child who needs a simple introductory explanation about disabilities and accommodations. It's characters experience varied limitations and are represented by culturally diverse people in the neighborhood. The book is short, matter of fact, colorful and to the point."
--Laurie Zelinger, PhD,author of Please Explain Anxiety to Me

"Perception of a disability is life-shaping for those who are 'differently able'. it is imperative that they have assistive devices to help them lead normal lives and be perceived as 'normal'. i.e. differently able. Your book shows people living their normal lives with assistive devices which is the way it should be Thanks for your great contribution to the positive perception of people who are differently abled."
--N.Siddiq, B.Sc., M.D., CBC freelance broadcast journalist

"This book is a great resource for parents, teachers and other childhood educators to help teach children about living with a disability. It offers important lessons in tolerance, compassion and dignity."
--Mary Lynne Stewart, Director of Fund Development and Communications, March of Dimes Canada

For more info see www.JewelKats.com

From the Growing With Love Series at Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com

JUV039150 Juvenile Fiction : Social Issues - Special Needs
SOC029000 Social Science : Handicapped
EDU026040 Education : Special Education - Physical Disabilities

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 28 pages
• Publisher: Loving Healing Press (May 6, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1615990836
• ISBN-13: 978-1615990832
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,738,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful introduction for children to disabilities, December 9, 2011

By 

Wayne S. Walker "Home School Book Review" (Salem, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Do You Use To Help Your Body?: Maggie Explores the World of Disabilities (Hardcover)

What is the best way to help children understand disabilities and the assistive devices that people use to help them with their disabilities? Maggie and her mother are going on a walk, and Maggie asks, "What will I learn about on today's walk?" Here's what she finds out. Liz, who sells fresh flowers on the street, is hearing impaired and needs a hearing aid. David, who is a paraplegic, uses a wheelchair. Justin, who teaches a hip-hop dance class, has an artificial leg. Mrs. Ali, who writes poetry, needs a walker. Yan, who paints in the park, can't speak clearly and has a communication board. Dr. Sharma uses a cane to help him stay balanced. Todd is blind and has a trained guide dog. Katrina, who works as a crossing guard, needs an arm brace to keep the pain away. Maggie herself has an eye problem. What assistive device do you think she uses to strengthen her eyesight?
Parents want their children to be sensitive to people with disabilities. Furthermore, parents of children with disabilities want those children to have hope. Author Jewel Kats, who also wrote Reena's Bollywood Dream: A Story About Sexual Abuse and Cinderella's Magical Wheelchair, uses this charming fictional story to teach youngsters that disabilities occur in every culture to people from different backgrounds and that working with a disability is a very real possibility for many people. With the colorful, full-page illustrations by Richa Kinra, kids can satisfy their curiosity about various disability aids and how they work in a non-imposing manor. In addition, the book can be used as a motivational tool for youngsters who have disabilities. At the end, Maggie says, "Now, I can ask grownups about their `assistive devices' all the time." But when Momma says that not all people are comfortable talking about their disabilities, Maggie decides, "I'll be respectful like you taught me." What Do You Use to Help Your Body? is a wonderful resource to introduce preschoolers or young elementary age children to disabilities and accommodations.

4.0 out of 5 stars a good intro to disabilities, October 6, 2011

By 

Laura Fabiani (Montreal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Do You Use To Help Your Body?: Maggie Explores the World of Disabilities (Hardcover)

Having worked with children and adults with disabilities, I am always interested in books that feature ways for children to learn more about other people's disabilities. This book proved to be one of those books. It allows for parents to open up a discussion on being different.

Maggie goes out on a walk with her mom, who has made it a special walk because she has arranged for Maggie to meet people who use different things to help their bodies. My children thought it was interesting because they learned about assistive devices, such as hearing aids, prosthesis, guide dogs and communication boards--something my children thought was cool. In addition to meeting people with various disabilities, they are from different cultures, too, adding realism to the story. We began to talk about people we knew who used assistive devices such as my children's Grandma who wears a hearing aid.

Children have a natural curiosity about devices but sometimes seeing a person very different from them may be scary. I remember working in a school with a boy who had an artificial leg he shlepped to school every day and put on so he could learn to walk without his wheelchair. The kids in his class avoided him simply because that leg freaked them out until the day we got the whole class to sit in a circle and listen to the boy explain all about his leg. Then suddenly it was the coolest thing! The kids now wanted to touch it and see how it worked.

I wish I had had this book to introduce those kids to assistive devices because I think it's a good resource for educators, especially those who have disabled kids integrated in their classrooms. It is simple to read, shows insight on the feelings of disabled people, and serves as an educational tool as well. Older kids would need a book with more depth but this one is ideal for the 4-8 year-old target audience.

3.0 out of 5 stars What do you use to help your body? By Jewel Kats, September 12, 2011

By 

onyx95 "-Debbie" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Do You Use To Help Your Body?: Maggie Explores the World of Disabilities (Paperback)

What do you use to help your body?
By Jewel Kats
Illustrations by Richa Kinra

Exploring what makes some people different than others is a good way for kids to learn about disabilities and the way to adapt a lifestyle to accommodate those disabilities. Noticing a difference and learning how they deal with it is not the same thing. Lucky for Maggie that her momma has an idea about how to help her understand more. Walking down the street they encounter several individuals that have had something that makes them different. Something they have had to deal with, overcome or work around. Realizing that a hearing loss doesn't mean they can't hear anything, the loss of a leg, or the use of both legs does not keep them inside. Even finding ways to be understood if they can't talk make Maggie understand that her own eye patch was helpful to her.

The concept of this book is one that needs to be explored more (in my opinion) with kids today. While the main point of "What do you use to help your body?" is to understand how things can help, it does briefly touch on the sensitivities of the disabled. Even for such a young age group as this one is targeted for, there could have been more. I have had to explain disabilities of a relative to my kids several times in past. The best part of books like this is that it opens up the topic to discussion and hopefully reduces discrimination while promoting acceptance. This was a good introduction to special needs of people around us.