{"id":54527,"date":"2019-11-18T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=54527"},"modified":"2019-11-16T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T21:29:07","slug":"just-like-me-natalie-gonchars-book-improves-diversity-in-childrens-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/just-like-me-natalie-gonchars-book-improves-diversity-in-childrens-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Like Me: Natalie Gonchar’s Book Improves Diversity in Children’s Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALLAS, Texas, Nov. 18, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — It is not a\u00a0secret that young kids are very impressionable, and what they see on\u00a0children\u2019s media will most likely make a big impact on how they will\u00a0see and act out in the world, says author Natalie Gonchar. On October 24, Natalie\u2019s book, \u201cMr. Gringle\u2019s Magical Wheelchair\u201d (ISBN: 978-1612543154), was released<\/a>, and it is now on the shelves at Barnes & Noble<\/a> stores across the U.S. Natalie, a high school student, wrote the book after noticing a lack of children\u2019s books featuring lead characters who have disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Natalie
\n\u201cWhen disabilities are portrayed in the media, storylines often focus on what a character can\u2019t do, instead of what they can do. I believe it\u2019s important to avoid those stereotypes and focus on realistic experiences, challenges, and victories instead,\u201d Gonchar said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the media has had a history of vastly under-representing minorities and people with disabilities. Until recently, very few books, television shows and movies featured characters who were not white, straight, and able-bodied. A study<\/a> of award-winning children\u2019s books published from 1975 to 2009 revealed a disproportionately smaller percentage of children with disabilities and ethnic diversity compared to those shown in actual classroom numbers. Today the situation is a little better, but still, when people with disabilities are included in plotlines, they are often marginal characters\u2014or, they are stigmatized with sad or dramatic stories.<\/p>\n

Having a casual,\u00a0reoccurring\u00a0character, who also happens to have a disability, in children\u2019s media could help stop casual ableism found in kids and would mean so much to children with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Book:
\n\u201cWe need more inclusionary books, where a character who has a disability is included,\u00a0but the story is not about the disability,\u201d says Dr. Joan K. Blaska, a retired professor and author of \u201cUsing Children\u2019s Literature to Learn about Disabilities and Illness.\u201d Reading stories that include characters with mental or physical challenges, who are portrayed in a positive light, helps expand children\u2019s concepts of what is \u201cnormal,\u201d building empathy and acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Gringle\u2019s Magical Wheelchair\u201d has already won the Gold Mom\u2019s Choice Award<\/a>, a national award honoring excellence in family friendly media, and is currently under review for the Schneider Family Book award by the American Library Association (ALA). It is a wonderful story about a girl who finds strength to stand up to bullies and protect her friends.<\/p>\n

Natalie is donating proceeds from the book\u2019s sales to Big Dreams Children\u2019s Foundation<\/a> (BDCF), a nonprofit organization that provides financial and emotional support for kids with disabilities around the world.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re shopping for children this holiday season, consider \u201cMr. Gringle\u2019s Magical Wheelchair,\u201d available at any Barnes & Noble<\/a>. It\u2019s just one book, but it has the potential to impact many children\u2014through its message, and its mission.<\/p>\n

Learn more: https:\/\/www.nataliegonchar.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy online: https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/mr-gringles-magical-wheelchair-natalie-gonchar\/1130975328#\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow on social:
\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mrgringlesmagicalwheelchair\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Instagram https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mr_gringles_magical_wheelchair\/<\/a><\/p>\n

*PHOTO link for media: https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/300dpi\/19-0905s2p-mrg-magical-wheelchr-300dpi.jpg<\/a>
\n*Photo caption: Cover, \u201cMr. Gringle\u2019s Magical Wheelchair\u201d by author Natalie Gonchar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DALLAS, Texas, Nov. 18, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — It is not a secret that young kids are very impressionable, and what they see on children’s media will most likely make a big impact on how they will see and act out in the world, says author Natalie Gonchar. On October 24, Natalie’s book, “Mr. Gringle’s Magical Wheelchair” (ISBN: 978-1612543154), was released, and it is now on the shelves at Barnes & Noble stores across the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7744,"featured_media":54513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,1,544,37,307,55],"tags":[12430,6854,12427,12429,12428],"class_list":["post-54527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-publishing-news","category-business-news","category-dallas-news","category-entertainment-news","category-family-parenting-news","category-texas-news","tag-brown-books-publishing-group","tag-childrens-book","tag-diversity","tag-illustrator-eduard-kotz","tag-inclusion","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":4178,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}