About Hooray for Aiden

Hooray for Aiden is a story book for children ages 4-9. It is a touching story of self discovery. When her family moves to a new town, the main character, Aiden, becomes worried about how her new second grade classmates will react to her stutter. At first, Aiden tries to hide her stutter from her classmates. This makes her very sad. But soon, with a little help from a caring teacher, Aiden learns that it’s OK to be herself….it’s OK to stutter!

Hooray for Aiden was written by Karen Hollett (me!) and Illustrated by Lori-Lee Thomas

I wrote Hooray for Aiden because, as a person who stutters, I know first hand just how challenging school life can be for a young student who stutters. Hooray for Aiden is a “feel-good” book – children will enjoy reading about how Aiden overcome’s her fear of speaking in class, and about how people who stutter can be anything they want to be!

It was also my intent to write a story that can be used by parents, SLPs, teachers, councillors and others, to help young school children who stutter deal with various impacts of this disorder. Hooray for Aiden can be used as a tool to initiate discussion about the issues covered in the book, and to assist children to effectively deal with these issues – fear of speaking in class/at school, fear of being teased, avoidance, etc. And, it can be used to help reinforce the message that stuttering is OK…..that it doesn’t need to hold people back in any way! This particular message is, of course, an important one for children dealing with virtually any type of disability or challenge (not just stuttering), and so Hooray for Aiden is a great book for these kids as well. In fact, it’s a great book for just about anyone who enjoys a heart-warming, feel-good story!

Hooray for Aiden has received many positive reviews from experts in the field of speech-language pathology, disability and education. A sample of these reviews is available.

Parents, and others who work with young children who stutter, are encouraged to learn about the many different ways that they can help. The “Resources” section of this website has links to many wonderful support associations that provide information and resources for this purpose.

Acknowledgements

Many people helped, both directly and indirectly, with this book, including:

• Barbara Bell – my beautiful sister. Thank-you Barbara for always believing in me! Words can`t express the impact you`ve had on my life. Stay well Sissy……. I promise to visit you in Scotland someday.
• Kennedy – my awesome Son. While you`ve put a few grey hairs on Dad & I in your teen years, you remain a source of great joy and inspiration.
• Jeff Hollett – my wonderful husband. Thank-you Jeff for the moral support with this project, and with life in general!
• Wallace & Elizabeth Hollett – retired educators (and wonderful in-laws!). Thanks guys for helping at many stages of this project.
• Lori-Lee Thomas – the very talented and super-nice illustrator of Hooray for Aiden. Thank-you Lori for helping to bring Aiden’s story to life! If anyone is looking for a talented young artist/illustrator, check out Lori’s work at http://belleisleart.weebly.com.
• Tracey Robertson – my amazing Speech Language Pathologist. Thank-you Tracey for your years of support. Without your help, my journey to acceptance, greater happiness and confidence would be much less complete…and I wouldn’t have written this book!
• Jaan Pill – National Coordinator of the Canadian Stuttering Association. Thank-you Jaan for your words of encouragement & feedback, and for the huge number of resources (materials & people) that you showed me.
• Thank-you to the following bunch of wonderful folks who took the time to read various drafts of the book, and to offer feedback or comments:Cherry Hughes, Marybeth S. Allen, Jane Fraser, Judith Kuster, Tammy Flores, Sarina Hunt, Gary Bunch, Don Saklofske, Maria Santos, Rachel Kirizopoulos Myrna Matheson, Marjorie Matheson-Maund, Beatrice Raddi, Janice York, Diane Wiseman, Ruth Cooper & Roxanne Valade.