What a day this day is… so much to celebrate!
First, today, April 16, is Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome Day (or 4p- Day). Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome impacts individuals who have a deletion on the short arm of the fourth chromosome. Why is April 16 WHS Day?
April is the 4th month of the year (fourth chromosome). And “p” (the letter representing the short arm of the chromosome) is the 16th letter of the alphabet.
So… 4/16!
Visit www.wolfhirschhorn.org and www.4p-supportgroup.org for more information. Sending hugs and hellos to all people and families touched by WHS. Our family wears jeans today in honor of rare genes. You can too!
As many of you know, I recently wrote a picture book about a girl who has WHS - a character inspired by my daughter, who has this same chromosomal deletion, which impacts 1 in 50,000 births. The book, DANCING WITH DADDY, publishes on Oct. 26, 2021. And today, I get to share the cover of it with you!
Here it is!
To my delight, librarian and writer John Schu revealed the cover of DANCING WITH DADDY this morning on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read. Mr. Schu, who also is Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic, interviewed myself and phenomenal illustrator of Ziyue Chen. Here is Mr. Schu’s fantastic feature - DANCING WITH DADDY BY ANITRA ROWE SCHULTE AND ZIYUE CHEN! Answering these questions was entirely too much fun…
As you will read in the interview, I wrote DANCING WITH DADDY because there was a book that I desperately wanted to see on the bookshelf at my local library and in my local book store - a fiction tale featuring a main character who, like my daughter, uses a PODD communication book, a wheelchair, and a G-tube for eating, and has a fun, loving family life and her own exciting dream-come-true adventure. The story came together in my mind and heart as we were preparing for the night that my husband, Dan, took our three girls to the local father-daughter dance. This was the night!
That dance was three years ago, and our girls are much bigger now! But the magic of that night has been captured in our memories and now, in a picture book, too! Ziyue Chen’s art is so very beautiful. I can’t wait for you to see it in full color! And it won’t be long…
DANCING WITH DADDY is now available for pre-order, woohoo! Click HERE to order, and your copy will arrive on the day that the book is released, in Fall 2021!
October 26 (the book birthday of DANCING WITH DADDY) will be here soon - on that day, my heart just may burst. I’ll be sure to share more fun as it comes along the way. What a dream come true this all has been. Many thanks to my editor at Two Lions, Kelsey Skea, literary agent, Stephanie Hansen, and amazing critique partners Rosie, Jen, Kristen, Barb, Alison, Hannah, Lauren, Clo, Tom, Heather, Chaz, Kate, and to the uber talented members of my debut group, PB Debut Troupe 21!
Happy Friday, and Happy WHS Day!