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Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio is a memoir of author Peg Kehret's childhood experience of polio.[1] The book won the Golden Kite Award in 1997.

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio
AuthorPeg Kehret
IllustratorWyatt Bechdel
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPolio
GenreMemoir
Published1996 (Albert Whitman & Company)
Publication placeUnited States
Pages179
AwardsDorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award

Golden Kite Award

Mark Twain Readers Award
ISBN0-8075-7457-0

Characters

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  • Peg: Main character and narrator of the story, diagnosed with polio.
  • Karen: Peg's best friend at school
  • Tommy: Peg's hospital roommate at University Hospital, in an iron lung.
  • Renee: Sheltering Arms roommate, who goes home for Christmas.
  • Shirley: Sheltering Arms roommate, who has the worst polio and likes marshmallows. She dies from Polio five years after the events of the book.
  • Alice: Sheltering Arms roommate, who has been there for ten years. Her parents didn't want to take care of her because she was so badly crippled, and she became a ward of the state. She dies from cancer in 1993.
  • Dorothy: Sheltering Arms roommate, who longs to be in leg braces to go home. She is able to return home because her family builds her a ramp.
  • Mrs. Crab: Peg's physical therapist at University Hospital, whom Peg doesn't like. She gives her Torture Time: hot packs and stretching. Peg highly disliked her.
  • Art: Peg's older brother whom Dorothy adores. Art is a college student.
  • Dr. Bevis: Peg's doctor at University Hospital. Peg promises to walk for him one day.
  • Miss. Ballard: Peg's physical therapist at Sheltering Arms that Peg is very fond of and she is also very good friends with Peg's parents.
  • Kenny: A boy who plays in the Christmas pageant who helped Peg. He was going to be discharged the day after that.
  • Mom: Peg's supportive mother
  • Dad: Peg's supportive father
  • B.J.: Peg's dog who almost got locked in the basement when she returned home for Christmas.

Settings

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The story takes place in Peg's school, Peg's house, at the Sheltering Arms, and at the University Hospital beginning in 1949.

Reception

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Small Steps won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award,[2] the Golden Kite Award in 1997 and the Mark Twain Readers Award in 1997.

References

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  1. ^ "Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio". Kirkus Reviews. 1996-10-01. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  2. ^ The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Archived 2003-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
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