I Can't Stop!: A Story about Tourette's Syndrome - Hardcover

Niner, Holly L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807536202 ISBN 13: 9780807536209

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2005

Synopsis

One day Nathan starts blinking--a lot. It bothers his parents and his sister. After a while the blinking stops, but then Nathan starts sniffing. A doctor explains that Nathan's movements are called tics.

About this title

About the Authors

I have published two picture books for children. Mr. Worry: A Story about OCD, was chosen by International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to be included in the Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2005 catalog and traveling exhibit. I Can’t Stop: A story about Tourette syndrome, received a 2006 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio award. Many of my stories have appeared in magazines for children.

I grew up in Newburgh, New York where I could often be found reading a book under the weeping willow tree. In elementary school, a friend and I picked our library books together, so that we could trade books half way through the week.

While I loved to read, I did not always write stories. In college I studied to be a Speech Therapist and I continue to provide speech therapy services in nursing homes. However, as I read books to my children, I realized that I wanted to write stories that children would love. The first stories I published were in children’s magazines. Mr. Worry, my first book, published in 2004, is close to my heart because my son has OCD. I feel that books are a wonderful way to explain a difficult topic and are a useful place to start a discussion with a child. So I wrote a story about OCD to help children and their families deal with this difficult disorder.

 

Meryl Treatner is a published author and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. Some of the published credits of Meryl Treatner include I Can't Stop!: A Story About Tourette Syndrome, Stop Teasing Taylor! (We Both Read), Being Me: Keepsake Scrapbook for African American Girls, A.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 4–At first, Nathan can't stop winking. When it ceases, he repeatedly sniffs. Head snapping replaces the sniffing. The child's repetitive behaviors upset his family and his friend Josh; they also distract his classmates. Although Nathan's age is not stated, Treatner's realistic artwork in a painterly style suggests that he is in an intermediate grade. When he becomes tearful and distraught over his inability to stop what he is doing, his parents finally take him to a doctor. Diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, Nathan learns to control new repetitive behaviors, called tics, without medication. Niner's informative but didactic story includes factual details about this compulsive disorder. An introduction for parents and teachers gives more information about it and notes that tics are common among children. The plot and primarily one-dimensional characters are devices to educate readers about TS. There is lots of dialogue, and the students in Nathan's class represent diverse cultures. Very few books are available for young audiences on this medical concern; what's out there tends to be nonfiction for older readers. Thus, this title does fill a void.–Lynn K. Vanca, Akron-Summit County Public Library, Richfield, OH
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Gr. 1-3. As many as 1 in 100 children, according to this book's introduction by a child neurologist, suffer from Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition characterized by repeated, varied habits that come and go for years. The purposeful but informative story follows Nathan, an elementary-school-age boy with TS as he learns to manage his tics and then educates his peers, many of whom incorrectly assume TS means that "you can swear all you want and get away with it." Interventions suggested are all behavioral, not pharmacological. Niner's portrayal of the turmoil before diagnosis, when everyone assumes that Nathan is acting out on purpose, is likely more realistic than the upbeat later scenes in which well-adjusted Nathan models coping strategies, even to the point of magnanimously accepting others'giggles during an episode of flapping his arms like wings: "This is a funny tic," he acknowledges. "I call it the chicken." Realistic watercolor-and-pencil illustrations reflect the straightforward intent of the book, which will be useful in libraries and schools serving children struggling with TS. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807536202
• ISBN 13: 9780807536209
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Treatner Meryl
• Number of pages: 32