Jean Little

Jean Little was born in Taiwan in 1932. A daughter of Canadian medical missionaries, Jean was born with a severe eye problem (her corneas were scarred) and was severely visually impaired.

After teaching disabled children for several years, Jean wrote her first children’s novel, Mine for Keeps, about a child with cerebral palsy. It was published in 1962 and won the Little, Brown Canadian Children’s Book Award.

More Books by Jean

• Jean also wrote about what it was like for her to disabled in her books Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within.

                                                                               

Polio

• In Little by Little, Jean’s teacher, Mr. Johnston, had had polio. Polio is a contagious disease that wreaked havoc in the early part of the 1900s.

Asymptomatic & Symptomatic Polio

• In about 95% of cases, polio actually produces no symptoms at all (called asymptomatic polio).

• In the 4% to 8% of cases in which there are symptoms (called symptomatic polio), the illness appears in

three forms: - a mild form called abortive polio which is limited to mild

flu-like symptoms - nonparalytic polio (1% to 5% show neurological

symptoms such as sensitivity to light and neck stiffness) - a severe, debilitating form called paralytic polio (this

occurs in 0.1% to 2% of cases)

Polio Vaccine• At the height of the polio

epidemic in 1952, nearly 60,000 cases with more than 3,000 deaths were reported in the United States alone.

• In 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk created a polio vaccine.

• With widespread vaccination, wild-type polio, or polio occurring through natural infection, was eliminated from the United States by 1979 and the Western hemisphere by 1991.

                           

1940s

• Jean Little was in the fifth grade in Little by Little. This was in the 1940s. So, let’s take a look at World War II and the 1940s.

Some 1940s Ads

A Typical Class in the 1940s

Shirley Temple

Margaret O’Brien

1. Hey World, Here I Am! Jean Little, et al / HarperTrophy / April 1990   2. From Anna Jean Little, Joan Sandin (Illustrator) / Harpercollins Juvenile Books / April 1991   3. Emma's Magic Winter (An I Can Read Book) Jean Little, Jennifer Plecas (Illustrator) / Harpercollins Juvenile Books / September 1998   4. Different Dragons (Young Puffin) Jean Little, Laura Fernandez (Illustrator) / Viking Pr / November 1989   5. Mine for Keeps Jean Little / Viking Childrens Books / April 1995   6. The Belonging Place Jean Little / Viking Childrens Books / November 1997   7. His Banner Over Me Jean Little / Viking Books / September 1995   8. Emma's Magic Winter (An I Can Read Book) Jean Little, Jennifer Plecas (Illustrator) / HarperCollins Children's Books / September 1998   9. Take Wing Jean Little / Little Brown & Co (Juv Trd) / June 1968

Jean Little’s Other Books

10. Spring Begins in March Jean Little / Little Brown & Co (Juv Trd) / June 1966   11. Stand in the Wind Jean Little / HarperTrophy / March 1980   12. Gruntle Piggle Takes Off Jean Little, Johnny Wales (Illustrator) / Viking Books / February 1997   13. Hey World, Here I Am! Jean Little / Demco Media / April 1990   14. Jess Was the Brave One Jean Little, Janet Wilson (Illustrator) / Puffin Books / January 1995   15. Stars Come Out Within Jean Little / Viking Pr / September 1991   16. Once upon a Golden Apple Jean Little, et al / Viking Pr / April 1991   17. Little by Little; A Writer's Education Jean Little / Puffin / March 1991   18. Listen for the Singing Jean Little / HarperCollins Children's Books / May 1991

Her vision gradually worsened until she became legally blind. Now, she travels with her yellow Lab Seeing Eye dog, Snug. She is 73 years old.

Credits• http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html

• http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/polio.html http://www.jeanlittle.com/

• http://www.learninglane.ca/itm00476.htm

• http://redcedar.swifty.com/1999/Author_Bios/jean.htm

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.timeinc.net/time/2003/flight/images/1940s.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.time.com/time/2003/flight/fashion1.html&h=264&w=374&sz=29&tbnid=w9G-Pqpk8xonkM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=118&hl=en&start=6&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1940s%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pstos.org/instruments/or/astoria/liberty_streetscene-1940s-l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pstos.org/instruments/or/astoria/liberty.htm&h=340&w=619&sz=47&tbnid=bWow7JRVgWhLuM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=134&hl=en&start=9&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1940s%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

• http://www.jwaynefan.com/images/gallery/iwoflag.jpg

Credits Continued

• http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/vl/1940s/pp10.gif

• http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/vl/1940s/fdr.gif

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cayuganet.org/arts/schine/photo/Past/images/1940s.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cayuganet.org/arts/schine/photo/Past/pages/1940s.htm&h=318&w=500&sz=39&tbnid=fIaP4nIhqQArRM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=127&hl=en&start=17&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1940s%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

• http://www.classicmoviekids.com/images/o/obrien/margaret308.jpg