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Rolling Along: The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair
Jamee Riggio Heelan
Peachtree Publishers, 2000-05
Price: $14.95
Keywords: AIDS HIV, Brain, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Children's Books, Communicable, Diabetes, Digestive Organs, Diseases, Extremities, Family Life, Health, Medicine, Nonfiction, Parents, Pediatrics, People Places, Physical Disabilities, Psoriasis, Science, Nature How It Works, Social Issues, Special Needs, Viral
Reviews:
Positive and Engaging
Rolling Along
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Have you ever wondered what goes on in the day of a wheelchair-using child? This book details all the triumphs and struggles of such a child. Taylor and Tyler are twins, but while Tyler can run, jump, and skip, Taylor has cerebral palsy and walks with a walker or uses the wheelchair. Readers can see how Taylor attends daily physical therapy sessions with Kathryn, a physical therapist, and how he colors, studies, and does other, ordinary activities with his brother. He even plays basketball in his wheelchair.
Tyler is helping Taylor learn to do wheelies with his wheelchair. Despite the daredevil connotation, wheelies are useful for getting up on curbs and other uneven spots.
Situations that hinder Taylor are those that unimpaired people probably don't notice: tall water fountains and sinks; small bathrooms; steps and stairs, and heavy doors. All public buildings after ADA are required to remedy these shortcomings (as far as I am aware), but of course, not every building is disabled accessible, even in 2005.
Illustrations are clever half drawings, half photographs. For example, photographed head and arms are joined by casually drawn bodies and props. This approach evokes more energy, perhaps, than mere photos of a boy in a wheelchair.
This engaging, positive view of cerebral palsy will have students saying, "Gee, I didn't know how much a disabled person can do."