For those with dyslexia, letters do not hold still. In fact, for some people, every possible permutation of the letters of a word appear before them, and it's their supremely challenging task to sort out which arrangement is the one required for the word to be correct (in the usual sense of the word).
Kate Rolfe brilliantly portrays this jumble — and its sorting — in her book for readers ages three to seven. Both author and illustrator, she uses cyanotype and hand-printed letters to show a child wanting to read but stymied by the process. The child's frustration, anger, and confusion are palpable as the letters keep "jumbling, toppling, tumbling." In one page spread, we see the child's tiny figure in the lower left corner, facing off against a mountain of mixed-up letters.
But then they grab an "O" ... and another "O" ... and through these they peer, and they see "A world where anything ... can be!" Along with them, we see the letters as ideas sown and capable of growing. The child hugs them in a big bundle, full of new determination, as it becomes clear that they can be a pathway to unlimited creativity, one of the greatest strengths of a dyslexic mind.
Kate Rolfe is winner of the prestigious V&A Student Illustrator of the Year and the Macmillan Prize for Illustration runner-up. She is dyslexic and loves letters, although sometimes reading is hard for her. In a personal note to readers at the end of the book, she empathizes with readers who share this difficulty and offers some of her favorite strategies, like listening to a book being read while she follows along on the page. She tells readers, "My creative brain always comes in handy when I am making books, just like this one. I bet your creative brain can do amazing things, too!"
