New Book Featuring Grandfather with Prosthesis

According to the Amputee Coalition, nearly 2 million people in the United States live with limb loss and approximately 54% of these people are older folks whose amputations were related to vascular disease, including diabetes and peripheral arterial disease. 

With those numbers, you'd think that there would be more children's books showing older people with limb loss (pirates don't count). 

I had been simmering on this book idea for a while. I've met a lot of older people new to limb loss who wonder how the young people in their lives will react. I  was born with a birth anomaly called proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), which resulted in incomplete formation of my hips and femurs. I had an amputation when I was a toddler and have been wearing an above the knee prosthesis since that time. My path is very different than the path of an older person who experiences amputation later in life.   At the end of the day, though, we are both living with limb differences. We both encounter young people who have questions. 

Illustrations can say so much on their own. When I began drawing Grandpa,  I envisioned him strong and happy. I kept the text simple (I really am more of an illustrator than a writer), so the focus stayed on the people in the pictures. Though the story describes various scenes and landscapes, the images revolve around the characters.  I used my favorite medium, which is pen on white paper. I love the contrast.

Grandpa's prosthesis is only directly mentioned once. They are playing I Spy in the garden when Sweet Pea, the granddaughter, spies something shiny. After a few guesses she finally  announces that it's Grandpa's prosthesis. It was important for  me to write  a story that did not revolve around limb loss, or even mention it in the title. 

The grandpa  teaches the granddaughter two main lessons. The first lessons is how to approach a nervous chicken. Fear is contagious and tone matters.  The second lesson involves an old cracked that still works just fine. There is beauty and purpose in who we are and how we are. 

I'd love to think that a parent or grandparent will be cuddled up with a child, reading this simple story and talking about the illustrations. I wonder what kind of questions will come up. Will the child even notice the prosthesis? Will this help open up a discussion in a gentle way? 

Creating this book brought me a lot of joy. I certainly hope it brings that joy to others.

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