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'Dear Bruno' was written to encourage a boy with cancer. |
WHEN ANDREW Bridge was 3, he was diagnosed with Wilms' tumor, a malignant growth in the kidney. His mother took pictures and wrote down Andrew's comments as he endured surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. When he was 9 they wrote and published a book, "Andrew's Story," about his experience.
"When I was little, I got cancer and was very sick. But if you could see me now, you would never know it," he begins. He describes his symptoms, what he understood about the disease when he was only 3 and, most of all, the stresses of treatment.
The six months of chemotherapy were worse than the surgery and radiation, and he often got angry at the doctors and nurses who were helping him. But he came through in the end--"My doctors and nurses gave me a T-shirt that said 'Finish Line'"-- and is healthy today.
Photos of Andrew, his family, and the doctors and nurses give the book a scrapbook feel. His story can reassure children who are facing cancer treatment, as well as their friends and siblings.
Alice Trillin survived lung cancer as a young woman, and a few years later she wrote a letter to a friend's 12-year-old son who was undergoing cancer treatment. "Dear Bruno," illustrated by Edward Koren, is a book that will reassure other young patients--not because it's upbeat, but because it's honest.
She writes about the fear, the pain, and the sheer exasperation she sometimes experienced: "The thing I hated about the tests was all the time you have to spend in the hall waiting to have them."
She also writes about how having cancer, although a bad experience in so many ways, has made her a different person, "different in ways that I like."
Her respect for the young recipient of her letter shines through on every page of this brief, perceptive book.
Louise Borden writes about a favorite teacher who survives cancer in "Good Luck, Mrs. K!" Third-grader Ann loves her new teacher, who assures the students that they are all teachers as well as students, admonishes them to be good listeners and to "read, read, read."
One day the children come to school to find a substitute in Mrs. K's place, and they soon learn that their teacher has cancer. Borden captures the uncertainty and fear the children feel, as well as the joy they feel when Mrs. K. returns in the fall.
Ida B, a fourth-grader who believes there is never quite enough time for all the fun she wants to have, lives an almost-perfect life in her small town in Wisconsin, being home-schooled and playing in the family's apple orchard. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, her carefree existence begins to change.
Katherine Hannigan's "Ida B --and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World" introduces a creative, sensitive girl with a good sense of humor and a big heart. Readers 9 and up will welcome her into their lives.
Both survivors and supporters are welcome at this weekend's "Fredericksburg Relay for Life" in Pratt Park, to celebrate cancer survivors and raise money for the American Cancer Society. For more information, visit the American Cancer Society Web site at acsevents.org.
You can phone CAROLINE PARR, coordinator of children's services for Central Rappahannock Regional Library, at 540/372-1160 or e-mail her at
Email: cparr@crrl.org.
