Help Child Overcome Fear of Hospitals With This Book

Books Kids Will Love RATING: BBBB
A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital
Author: Deborah Hautzig
Illustrator: Joe Mathieu
Recommended for ages 1 to 8
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My daughter is scheduled for surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids this month. I found this book online (http://www.amazon.com/) to help answer her questions about the surgery and hospital stay.
Discussing openly about what may happen during a hospital stay can help to alleviate a young child's anxieties. Sesame Street, one of the best at helping children understand complex issues, does a terrific job in explaining about tonsil removal surgery for young children.
In the book, Grover's throat hurts. His doctor tells him his tonsils need to come out. Grover, and his pals, including Ernie & Bert, take a tour of the hospital and learn about the operation.
While every surgery and hospital is different, this book does a great job covering the basics. (If your child is having surgery ask if she can take a pre-hospital tour. Many Massachusetts hospitals that specialize in pediatric surgery provide this service and even have personnel to help children cope with a hospital stay.)
We added this book to our family library. It was read often before and post-surgery.
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Random House
First published in 1985
$3.25, paperback

Katie Caught A Cold

Check out my feature story on the book Katie Caught a Cold by local, Massachusetts pediatrician Charlotte Cowen in the January issue of the magazine I edited.
The link is www.baystateparent.com/news/2006/0101/articles/041.html.
I am a huge fan of the book and the series.
I rate it BBBB.
I recommend adding every book in the series to your home library.