Lucas Makes a Comeback

by Igor Plohl, Urska Stropnik Sonc (Illustrator)

Overview

Lucas fell, and now he lives with a disability. A story of grit and resilience.

When Lucas falls off a ladder, he damages his spine and can't use his legs anymore. He can't stand on them and he can't walk on them.

Read about how, with self-determination as well as with the love of friends and family, Lucas can drive a car, play sports, and be a teacher again!

The author, Igor Plohl, used his own experiences as a paraplegic and as a teacher to speak to children about disability, resilience, and grit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823447664
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	04/13/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.81(w) x 11.26(h) x 0.32(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Igor Plohl (pronounced EE-gor PLAHL) was born and raised in Slovenia, where he teaches at a primary school and lectures extensively on physical disability and spinal cord injury. After falling from a ladder at the age of twenty-nine, he injured his spinal cord and became paraplegic. He shares his experience in an autobiographical book for adults and three children's books, including Lucas at the Paralympics, published by Holiday House in Summer 2021. You can learn more about Igor Plohl on his website: www.igor-plohl.info

Urska Stropnik Sonc graduated from the Faculty of Education in Maribor for book illustration. Her first picture book illustrations were published in 1997. Since then, she has illustrated more than 70 books. She lives with her husband and three sons in Velenje, Slovenia.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/24/2021

K-Gr 3—Lucas Lion is a grown-up lion who teaches children and enjoys sports and doing the everyday activities that most adults do. While Lucas is up on a ladder fixing his roof, he falls. His spine is permanently injured, and he has to move home with his parents who must do everything for him as he learns to adapt to life in a wheelchair. Adjusting is difficult for the lion until his friends, a monkey, elephant, zebra, and giraffe, cheer him up, buy him a special car, and encourage him to get back to work. Lucas learns to change his attitude about what he thought he could no longer do and begins to do these things by himself once again. Bright, cheery, child-friendly illustrations detail how life for someone with a spinal cord injury has to adjust and also how sometimes things are not always so easy for people with disabilities to maneuver. This book will spur on excellent conversations and provoke much thought and empathy. In the back matter, photographs of the author show how this story parallels his own life. VERDICT Highly recommended as a first purchase for all libraries.—Tracy Cronce, Stevens Point Pub. Sch. District, WI

School Library Journal

2021-03-17
An anthropomorphic adult lion adjusts to using a wheelchair.

After Lucas falls from a ladder, injuring his spine, his doctors explain that he’ll never walk again. Lucas, who loves cycling, driving, and teaching, fears he can no longer enjoy such activities in a wheelchair. Furthermore, he’s sad to move in with his parents, who do all his cooking, cleaning, and grooming. Fortunately, friends from many species come to the rescue, cheering him up and raising funds for an adapted car, and Lucas gradually learns to do housework and self-care from his chair. Finding wheelchair-accessible housing is difficult, but Lucas eventually “[gets] lucky” and finds an apartment building with a ramp, an elevator, and new friends who are “happy to help.” The final illustration finds Lucas holding paws with his mother, who “doesn’t have to worry [about him] anymore!” Plohl’s matter-of-fact treatment of barriers feels simultaneously refreshingly honest and somewhat rushed; highlighting the scarcity of such basic needs as accessible shelter without further exploration risks casting inaccessibility as a norm rather than a product of human decisions and designs that exclude disabled people. However, along with Šonc’s sunny cartoon illustrations, Plohl’s simple declarative sentences will reassure newly disabled readers in particular that independence is possible. The Slovenian author’s biography explains that, like Lucas, he became paraplegic after a ladder accident; color photos show him performing everyday activities.

A gently encouraging tale of navigating disability. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

★ "Bright, cheery, child-friendly illustrations detail how life for someone with a spinal cord injury has to adjust and also how sometimes things are not always so easy for people with disabilities to maneuver. This book will spur on excellent conversations and provoke much thought and empathy."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

"the upbeat message that disability doesn’t mean helplessness comes through clearly, is applicable to readers of any age, and is nicely reinforced by a closing set of photos showing the author busy at home and on the road."—Booklist

"along with Šonc’s sunny cartoon illustrations, Plohl’s simple declarative sentences will reassure newly disabled readers in particular that independence is possible. The Slovenian author’s biography explains that, like Lucas, he became paraplegic after a ladder accident; color photos show him performing everyday activities. A gently encouraging tale of navigating disability." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher