My Story
Hi and welcome to my web page.
My name is Jennifer Kuhns, author of children's book beginning with, Were You Born In That Chair?, published in 2010, followed by A Box Full Of Letters, published in 2012 and Hailey's Dream, published in 2013. One might say Were You Born In That Chair? is an odd title for a children's book, but the original idea for the story came from a personal experience that I was confronted with during my first day as a mainstreamed student in a "regular" kindergarten class. (I'll get to that in a minute.) I had attended a special education preschool for three years previously, where having a disability was not an oddity. Disabilities were a part of life. I was exposed to both physically and mentally disabled children, some of whom were deaf, blind, autistic, epileptic, missing or had deformed limbs, Down's Syndrome, and those with cerebral palsy as myself. Many years later I grew to understand that my exposure to the variety of disabilities during this time gave me an inclusive view of people, a view many children do not have an opportunity to explore.
So, what was the experience that gave me the title of the book? The question within the book, the title of the book, Were You Born In That Chair?, was an eye-opening question posed to me by a boy as I waited in line to enter and begin my first day as a mainstreamed student. The children in my new mainstream class, most of them having never been exposed to a disabled person, specifically one in an electric wheelchair, were either already prejudiced by parental influences, or they were just plain confused and curious. This question stayed in the back of my mind for some twenty odd years. I have laughed, made fun of the situation, the child who asked the question, the question, but I still always had a prodding need, a rattling in my brain and poking in my gut, an idea that I needed to do something with this experience, get this story, this message out.
It wasn't until years later, after having work published in Reflections of Innocence-The International Library of Poetry, on internet poetry contest sites, and in half a dozen volumes of a California State University Literary Publication, that I felt the time was right to begin my project. While working on my Master of Arts program, which I completed in 2008, I also brought to life my first children's book.
My primary reason, the goal for writing this book is to give children an unbiased look at what a disability is, and to aid in changing the view of disabilities. Everyone has some kind of disability. Some are seen and some are not. Some are as large as wheelchairs and some as small as having to wear glasses. I hope I have succeeded.
In October of 2012, A Box Full Of Letters, was published; a companion book in which Hailey and her friends move from inside the classroom where they learned about and accepted each others' differences to discovering and learning the secrets hidden in the basement of Hailey's old family home where they not only build strong friendships and a clubhouse, but build a bridge to history and ancestors. While hunting through trunks and boxes, long forgotten, they find a shoebox full of letters from 1942. Within the pages of those letters, the children learn about more than family and history. They learn that prejudice and discrimination has a very long history.
On the coattails of A Box Full Of Letters, came the read-aloud and young listener book, Hailey's Dream. While out promoting both Were You Born In That Chair? and A Box Full Of Letters. books written for fourth and fifth grade readings levels, I was repeatedly asked by kindergarten and first grade teachers to write something on the topic of "being disabled" for a much younger audience. My problem was that I didn't have a vehicle, a surrounding message or moral to carry a story until the idea of mermaids came up in a conversation. From that off the cuff conversation, I immediately had a story...the vehicle. As my imagination went to work, I not only had a story, but I had a story with a moral, And, it isn't just a story with a moral for the very young. It is a story with a moral for anyone, any age, disabled or not.
If you would like to read an excerpt from either Were You Born in That Chair? or A Box Full of Letters, head to my Books section.
**If you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat send me an email or find me on Facebook.**
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work and passion....come back any time.
My name is Jennifer Kuhns, author of children's book beginning with, Were You Born In That Chair?, published in 2010, followed by A Box Full Of Letters, published in 2012 and Hailey's Dream, published in 2013. One might say Were You Born In That Chair? is an odd title for a children's book, but the original idea for the story came from a personal experience that I was confronted with during my first day as a mainstreamed student in a "regular" kindergarten class. (I'll get to that in a minute.) I had attended a special education preschool for three years previously, where having a disability was not an oddity. Disabilities were a part of life. I was exposed to both physically and mentally disabled children, some of whom were deaf, blind, autistic, epileptic, missing or had deformed limbs, Down's Syndrome, and those with cerebral palsy as myself. Many years later I grew to understand that my exposure to the variety of disabilities during this time gave me an inclusive view of people, a view many children do not have an opportunity to explore.
So, what was the experience that gave me the title of the book? The question within the book, the title of the book, Were You Born In That Chair?, was an eye-opening question posed to me by a boy as I waited in line to enter and begin my first day as a mainstreamed student. The children in my new mainstream class, most of them having never been exposed to a disabled person, specifically one in an electric wheelchair, were either already prejudiced by parental influences, or they were just plain confused and curious. This question stayed in the back of my mind for some twenty odd years. I have laughed, made fun of the situation, the child who asked the question, the question, but I still always had a prodding need, a rattling in my brain and poking in my gut, an idea that I needed to do something with this experience, get this story, this message out.
It wasn't until years later, after having work published in Reflections of Innocence-The International Library of Poetry, on internet poetry contest sites, and in half a dozen volumes of a California State University Literary Publication, that I felt the time was right to begin my project. While working on my Master of Arts program, which I completed in 2008, I also brought to life my first children's book.
My primary reason, the goal for writing this book is to give children an unbiased look at what a disability is, and to aid in changing the view of disabilities. Everyone has some kind of disability. Some are seen and some are not. Some are as large as wheelchairs and some as small as having to wear glasses. I hope I have succeeded.
In October of 2012, A Box Full Of Letters, was published; a companion book in which Hailey and her friends move from inside the classroom where they learned about and accepted each others' differences to discovering and learning the secrets hidden in the basement of Hailey's old family home where they not only build strong friendships and a clubhouse, but build a bridge to history and ancestors. While hunting through trunks and boxes, long forgotten, they find a shoebox full of letters from 1942. Within the pages of those letters, the children learn about more than family and history. They learn that prejudice and discrimination has a very long history.
On the coattails of A Box Full Of Letters, came the read-aloud and young listener book, Hailey's Dream. While out promoting both Were You Born In That Chair? and A Box Full Of Letters. books written for fourth and fifth grade readings levels, I was repeatedly asked by kindergarten and first grade teachers to write something on the topic of "being disabled" for a much younger audience. My problem was that I didn't have a vehicle, a surrounding message or moral to carry a story until the idea of mermaids came up in a conversation. From that off the cuff conversation, I immediately had a story...the vehicle. As my imagination went to work, I not only had a story, but I had a story with a moral, And, it isn't just a story with a moral for the very young. It is a story with a moral for anyone, any age, disabled or not.
If you would like to read an excerpt from either Were You Born in That Chair? or A Box Full of Letters, head to my Books section.
**If you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat send me an email or find me on Facebook.**
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work and passion....come back any time.