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At the Hospital (Read at Home: First Experiences ISBN: 9780198387237
Brychta, Alex and Hunt, Roderick
Published by Oxford Childrens, 2009
It is Chip's friend Craig, a wheelchair-user, who tries to warn Chip that his shoelace is undone, but it's too late when in doing step-ups in training for football, Chip falls onto the bench, hurting his leg. Dad comes running and takes Chip off to hospital, where mum meets them. Chip is taken to meet a nurse who finds out what sort of pain Chip is in and then sends him for an x-ray. We see the machine and the x-ray picture of the cracked bone in Chip's leg, then he is taken to have a plaster cast put on. He must learn how to use crutches, and he is told that he mustn't put weight on the leg or get it wet. Chip finds it hard to watch the football game the next day, but Craig offers to take him to watch him play wheelchair basketball the next week, and that sounds a good idea. Soon Chip gets a new cast, one he can walk on, and he chooses green. Dad takes him to see Craig play basketball, which Chip finds very exciting, and the two boys then go home and play table-top football. This is simple and effective, and the easily-read text has real tension and valid story-telling. It's good to see a wheelchair-bound child as a normal part of a story. The pictures are simple too, in comic style with lots of colour. A good presentation of a common reason for having to visit hospital.
Age: 5+