Stephen Lightbown – författare

My Dad Can reassures children that a parent’s wheelchair doesn’t change who they are.  Iris's dad is the best. He blows up her floaties when she wants to go swimming. He covers her eyes when they watch scary movies. Best of all, she loves that she can climb into his lap for warm cuddles.  Her dad is amazing.   But sometimes they meet people who can't see what she sees, and today is one of those days . . . A heartwarming picture book about a young girl who learns that her dad's wheelchair doesn't define what he can or can't do. With beautifully hand-illustrated artwork from Claire Sahara Lemp and text from poet and disability rights advocate Stephen Lightbown, this title is perfect for sparking meaningful conversations that celebrate inclusion.

Cosmo is a young boy whose life has been changed forever, after falling out of the tree he loved to climb. Now, Cosmo is disabled and uses a wheelchair. Now, Cosmo wants to have a conversation with the tree.In this outstanding debut collection for children, Stephen Lightbown draws on his own personal experiences as a wheelchair user, while creating a unique and utterly engaging character in Cosmo. Written in Cosmo’s voice and peppered with contributions from the boy’s family, these poems take the reader on a journey of challenges, questions, hurts, explorations and triumphs. Cosmo is endlessly open and curious, and his observations and reflections are at once perceptive, raw, hilarious, confronting and enchanting.How can Cosmo come to terms with, and adapt to, this seismic change in his life? Is his life as he knew it gone? Could there be new possibilities ahead, and also new abilities that Cosmo doesn't yet know he possesses? And will the tree ever reply to his number one question: why?