Additional information
by Michelle Foulia (Author)
Ten-year-old Alex doesn't want to go on holiday to Greece with his family.
The only advantage is being far away from Jason, who bullies him for having ADHD. What Alex doesn't realise is that this holiday will change his life forever when he meets a stray, abandoned puppy. When the puppy is injured, Alex is determined to care for her and take her back home to England. Can Alex and his family overcome the mountain of challenges to reach his dream? And can he prove to his family that ADHD is a gift, not a disorder? Will determination be enough to make this miracle come true?This book, written in dyslexia-friendly font, also includes journal pages with activities to help the reader process, understand and celebrate themselves, and their gifts.
Based on a true story
The book begins with a letter from the author to the reader, sharing her experience growing up with ADHD and how writing has been a therapeutic process for her.
It leads into the story, then follows up with a variety of tools to help a child manage their challenges, as well as prompts that can be used for journalling, discussion, or drawing. The prompts help the child process the story, understand their neurodiversity, and identify their gifts, celebrating themselves instead of focusing on the label 'disorder'
It ends with the author describing the true story of Poppy's rescue in 2015 while living in Greece with her husband and children, while also fostering two siblings from Greece. There are photos of the day of Poppy's adoption into the family and an invitation for the reader to write to the author should they wish to (with the supervision of a responsible adult) to share their own story or experience and how the book helped them.
This book has been used as a reader book in a school for children with special needs and was loved by the entire class. The teacher fed back that it was the first time the children were so eager to read and discuss the story because they saw themselves in the story. They used the book to analyse vocabulary, to learn comprehension and to develop key reading skills. At the end I provided a virtual author visit where they got to meet Poppy and ask any questions they had
Poppy's Miracle can be used by child therapists, teachers, parents, foster carers, grandparents, extended family members, coaches and anybody who is working with children and wants to see them embrace their neurodiversity and celebrate who they are
