What Happened to You? (What Happened to You?, 1)

My book of choice is titled “What Happened to You” written by Author James Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George and published by Faber & Faber Limited. This 32-page juvenile nonfiction book that shares a story of a boy living with a physical impairment of the leg. I found the book on both Goodreads and Amazon.com where I ultimately purchased my hardback copy for $18.99. This story book would be a great addition to any child’s library because it is written in language that is typical of childhood conversations, the characters are believable and diverse, and the illustrations are friendly and mild enough for all senses. Families would find it fun and instructive in sharing with their own children about how like we all are even with orthopedic impairments. Joe is faced with a slew of questions on the playground about what happened to his leg. “What happened to you?” they all wanted to know and I particularly appreciate the language used in the children’s conversations. When Joe continually diverts the questions posed by the other children their imaginative guesses become more elaborate much to Joe’s frustration. Because it is so honest and written from the perspective of Joe and in a child’s words, I have no reservations about sharing this book with all varieties of audiences. I will be adding it to our Health Equity Lending Library for use in childcare programs across the state.

I liked how fluid this book was to read. It was easy and quick to read. I bought it for my preschool students and they really enjoyed the imagine of the boy the book is about. The moral of the story came quickly and it was sort of lost on them at first and did more explaining.I did more research on this book and there are lesson plans made by the author that can go along with this book. It was very sweet how you find out that children with disabilities don't want to talk about their differences, or be stared at, they just want to have fun just like you and me.

I would recommend this book to adults and children alike because it brings up an important simple fact that everyone in society needs to learn about disability.And the book does this in a gentle yet matter of fact way that that makes the reader(no matter the age) reflect on disability in a respectful and empathetic way that makes perfect sense when you first really think of it. And in a way that perfectly reflects children's ability to reflect and learn even when met with something that conflicts with their previously lived experiances.It also provides simple and clear examples of what parents can do instead when talking about disability and healthy boundaries with their children that doesn't create shame or fear.I love that the book is in fact written by someone who has had lived experiance with the subject since childhood and therefore manages to illustrate this theme in a realistic and respectful way.The illustrations are charming. They bring out the story in a live way that can easily catch the eye and imagination of young children. Beautifully drawn in a way that doesn't dominate the story being told but lifts it and at the same time manages to show the emotional expressions and the fantastic life of children's imagination.This is a book that I wished everyone had read, that existed when I myself was a kid. A book that should be added to any bookshelf/library including in kindergardens. This is a book I would've loved to read with the kids in the kindergardens I worked in. I can imagine all the good conversations and musings we could've had and also it being used as a positive tool to educate them in how to view disability and the disabled in a non-ableist way.I hope this book will be translated into many different languages so that as many adults and children can get as full access to it as possible!Thank you James Catchpole and Karen George!

Written from the actual perspective of a child with a disability! It’s exhausting dealing with the same intrusive questions over and over - it’s great to see a book that helps disabled kids handle these kinds of questions. Now we need a book on how to handle rubber-neckers!

Good teaching for young kids

My son can look at the pictures on his own but we can also read it together. I like that it takes a positive route to letting kids know they don’t have to talk about any abilities or anything they don’t want to talk about at all

This is such a wonderful and charming book. The illustrations are delightful and the text is very kid friendly while still making such a great point. While I think a disabled child would love it, it is a really great book for all kids. I bought one for my son, and recently gave one as a gift to a friend and she loved it also. Highly recommended for any child in your life!

My son has a physical disability and we’ve always tried to be open about it, especially when kids ask. This book was a great perspective about not having to share if you don’t want to. We had a good discussion about it after reading.

I love this book and am excited to read it with my Kindergarten class. Definitely follow the author on Instagram. I appreciate how he also has a limb difference; representation in authors and illustrators is important!

Me parece un libro interesante para que los niños aprendan que otros niños pueden tener algún tipo de discapacidad y cómo deben tratarles

The kids loved this book and learned a lot from it.

“Joe spends his morning frequenting the park,Playing a fearsome pirate, capturing a shark.Taunting crocs, then out of the blue…A girl come along and asks ‘What happened to you?’Now pirates, on the whole, don’t like to be disturbed.And the interruption left Joe a little perturbed.You see, Joe has one leg, which made the girl ask,While joe was enjoying his treasure hunting task.Was it a burglar? Was it a shark?Did it fall off? Is it lost in the park?Why does it matter? Enough of the chat.Let’s play pirates! And the kids seemed happy with that.”Joe loves to play in the park where his imagination runs wild! As a pirate, with his trusty sword, he partakes in a fierce battle against the sharks and the crocodiles. That is until a young girl approaches (stepping on his imaginary shark) and announces:“You’ve only got one leg!”Then followed the inevitable question:“What happened to you?”Now Joe is in the middle of a ferocious battle with the sharks and doesn’t have time for such silly questions! And the more children pipe up with the same questions and even more imaginative suggestions as to where his leg has gone. Was it stolen? Did it fall off? Did the Sharks get it?Joe just wants to play! He becomes overwhelmed with the interest in him…Then the same girl from before notices something much more interesting… A Crocodile…Pirate Joe springs into action! The children grab their swords and restart the battle and all conversations of legs suddenly don’t matter!As a teacher for many years, one of the most wonderful things about the job is the children’s curiosity! You can be teaching the most incredible lesson about the circulatory system when a hand goes up:“Sir, do you have a wife?”“Sir, have you watched Guardians of the galaxy?”“Sir, do you have Tiktok?” (What is this tiktok of which they speak.)“Sir, did you watch the Villa match?” (Yes I did)And aside from the curiosity, you also get such wonderful unashamed optimism and innocence. Again you could be reading a wonderful story to Reception and half way through a hand goes up:“Sir it was my mum’s birthday last weekend.” (Cue everyone wanting to share when their mum’s birthday is.)“Sir, my favourite colour is green.” (Cue everyone wanting to share their favourite colour.)“Sir, my mum says that she doesn’t like Peter’s mum.” (Cue Peter crying)Now aside from the internal screaming or outward laughing, these are the stories you go back home and tell your families but also the ones you’ll remember.Why am I sharing all this? Because while I thought this book was going to be about a boy with one leg and disability awareness (which it also is), it was more about the inevitable and incessant questions and words that wonderfully fly out of the mouths of children when their curiosity is piqued but may not necessarily be appropriate or empathetic.Told in such a lovely, often humorous, way, it explores how children are naturally curious in their way of understanding the world but that what is their unusual, is someone else’s normal.It also highlights the wonderful notion that children don’t create segregation, they are accepting of race, background, disability – they bond over play, joy, laughs, shared interests. What I thought particularly poignant was how the children were not referred to by names while they were seeing Joe for his missing leg, but then once they bonded over a really good game of pirates, their names were revealed signifying how they had understood each other.It explored how we didn’t need to know what had happened to Joe’s leg in order to build a connection and although Joe may feel like it is an important part of who he is, it doesn’t have to be his one defining feature. What I thought was particularly powerful is how you never find out what happened to his leg because that wasn’t important and it’s not the point of the story.What really challenged my thinking in a brilliant way was how so many picture books have a theme of ‘celebrating difference’, this almost turns it on it’s head with ‘celebrating and finding the similarities – the common ground.’ I definitely see how this would have a wonderful place in many a PSHE lesson in primary school.I have to comment on Karen George’s lovely illustrations and the clever way that she distinguishes her visuals of the reality and also the children’s imagination combined.An extra special element of the book is the last page where James offers advice to parents when their child might inexplicably shout out the questions. A really personal page coming from lived experiences is advice we should all take on board.A wonderful children’s book, beautifully illustrated that celebrates children’s curiosity while introducing empathy and embracing our similarities and looking for the things that connect us. Equally, its a great way to talk and introduce disability to children so many they don’t have those ‘shout out’ moment the next time they see a disabled person in a shop.

足のない主人公の子どもが毎日出会う、「なんで足がないの？」という子どもからの質問。そこからの展開がとても良かったです。最後のページには、障害当事者の作者のコメントがあり、参考になりました。