It’s Your Turn at Bat Featuring Mark Riley

One of a series of children’s books written from the point of view of an elementary grade child with a disability or other problem, the stories emphasize similarities in childhood experience while providing information specific to the disability. In this book, Mark, a fifth grader with cerebral palsy, has been reluctantly doing research on sewing machines for a school report. He discovers that the money for his team’s baseball jerseys that he has been responsible for is missing, and he finds himself feeling more friendly toward sewing machines. After the story, a question and answer section provides answers (by Mark) of typical questions children often have about cerebral palsy. These include: “Why are you in a wheelchair?””What is cerebral palsy?””What is it like to have CP?””Does having CP mean that you’re crippled or handicapped? Does it matter what people call you?””But how can you play baseball in a wheelchair?””Can you play other sports?””Isn’t it hard to get around in a wheelchair?””Can you go real fast in your wheelchair?””Why do you talk funny?””Why do you wear a helmet?””Will you get better?””Are you sad that you have CP?” (DB)