Do you have a book that changed your life?
Is there a story that opened your eyes to the world around you?
That book for me was Charlotte’s Web. I will forever love animals and animal stories because of it. It was the first time I imagined animals having internal lives.
It was different from the stories my mom read to me. Books like Berenstain Bears were essentially animals wearing people clothes, having people problems. But in Charlotte’s Web, readers were let into the minds of these radiant yet humble animals. The people were background characters. I was mesmerized—and it was all thanks to my third-grade teacher.
I couldn’t have read the book myself at the time. I struggled with reading in school. Chapter books were so daunting that I wouldn’t even try. But now, I understood the magic they contained.
At the time, my friends were reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So, I decided to tackle my first chapter book. It was hard, but step by step, page by page, I learned how to do hard things.
The same is now true for my daughter, though her challenges are different. She was born with a genetic condition called Angelman Syndrome. She is non-verbal and will always be developmentally delayed, but watching her problem-solve and make connections with people inspires me.
And, oh, how she loves stories. She connects with them despite not being able to read. She has an internal world that I’m convinced is a Willy-Wonka-level of pure imagination.
I am forever indebted to her teachers and therapists for their dedication and compassion in helping to shape that love. Their work changed the direction of my life too.
After watching them firsthand, I realized that was something I could do—something I needed to do. I decided to become a special education teacher. I went back to school, earned my Masters in Education, and have now worked for over 10 years in an urban public school district.
And despite a student’s ability, background, or communication level, if I find the right story at the right moment, I see that same spark I had hearing the story of “some pig.”
But finding rich, diverse, interesting, and engaging stories for students with disabilities is a constant struggle. They need print but also digital versions. They may need the story read aloud or even modified, textured, or adapted to find the right balance between engaging and accessible.
All students, including my daughter, deserve the right to access quality literacy instruction. The problem many teachers face is that texts are often interesting but inaccessibly complex, or the words are accessible but the subject matter is targeted to preschoolers.
That’s the starting point behind 4 Kinds Publishing. The goal is simple: create stories that reach every child, in every way they can receive them.
Print. Digital. Audio. Adapted.
I want to help parents and teachers make connections with the children in their lives. Because we know that if we can just find the right kind of story delivered in the right kind of way, every student can connect with the magic stories offer.
Let’s give all children the key they need to unlock the magic in stories. Because every child deserves to find a story with the power to shape their life.
Thank you for caring for the children in your life,
Kevin
English