Actor Henry Winkler starred in such memorable TV shows as Happy Days, Arrested Development and Barry. Yet, when he was younger, Winkler struggled in school. He opened up about his frustration in a recent NPR interview. “I thought I was stupid…There is an emotional component, I think, that comes along with learning challenges, where I had no sense of self.” To make matters worse, Winkler said his parents blamed his underachievement on laziness, adding “I was grounded 97 percent of my high school career.” Though Winkler found his calling in acting and learned to compensate for his reading shortcoming, it wasn’t easy. “I would memorize as quickly as I could because I couldn’t read the page and act at the same time.”
At 31, Winkler was diagnosed with the learning disorder, dyslexia. Considered one of the most common language-based learning disabilities, dyslexia affects between 5-10 percent of the population, but this number could be as high as 17 percent. It is also the most common cause of reading, writing and spelling difficulties.
In 2003, Winkler released “Niagara Falls, or Does It?” Loosely based on Winkler’s life, the children’s book follows the antics of middle schooler, Hank Zipzer, who has learning challenges. To date, Winkler has written over 20 books in the popular Hank Zipzer series.
More recently, Winkler’s Here’s Hank books have been released in a new font designed to help struggling readers achieve reading success. Dyslexie Font assists readers with dyslexia by weighting words in a way that prevents them from being turned, mirrored or swapped.
Here at DBRL, we are excited to announce that we have ordered over new 20 children’s book titles, printed in Dyslexie Font, which will be available for checkout soon! Until then, please use this link to place holds, and you will be notified when they are ready to borrow.
Photo Credit (Actor Henry Winkler): Elvis Kennedy Photo “Henry Winkler 7” via flickr (license).
Christmas
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
Winter Solstice
Las Posadas
for many families, including my own. My favorite character as a child was Tootie, played by Margaret O’Brien (who won one of the first Juvenile Academy Awards for the role), the hilariously morbid and anarchic seven-year-old who has funerals for her dolls before burying them in the backyard and who is digging a tunnel into her neighbor’s yard so that she can reach up through the ground and grab her by the leg.
For many, this time of year signifies the beginning of the holiday season—a time for gathering with family and friends, sampling special foods and giving gifts. But for others, especially young children just learning to express themselves, the holidays can be anything but joyful. Excitement is on overdrive, while expectations are high that everyone will get along and be polite. Is it any wonder that the season of holiday cheer often goes hand-in-hand with an increase in stress and anxiety, for both children as well as their adults?
