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Rebecca Adler may not make a dime from her first book, and that's OK with her. The retired teacher spent two- and-a-half years on the self-published "Keep Me Safe at Home and in My Community, A Handbook on Safety for Young Children and their Families."
She is passionate about the topic and considers the book a labor of love.
"This is not a book for profit. It's not going to get any literary awards, to be honest," the Potomac resident acknowledges.
Adler, who taught for more than 25 years in both Montgomery and Prince George's counties, relied on her own vast knowledge of child safety issues, an area she believes has been overlooked. She feels that getting ahead in school tends to be the emphasis of educational journals and the mainstream media. And since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, she adds, the focus on academic results by schools has pushed basic safety instruction to a back burner.
When Adler hit bookstores and libraries to see what was already out there, she found that books about child safety often discuss a single area, such as safety at home. She decided to make her book more comprehensive.
"Keep Me Safe at Home and in My Community" has six chapters, on safety at home, with strangers, in the street, in the car, on the playground and at the swimming pool. The book is aimed at ages 2 through 8, and Adler says the chapter format allows parents, or older siblings, to deal with one topic at a time. She made the chapters brief to appeal to children who typically have short attention spans.
Among the precautions addressed are not putting small toys in the mouth, watching fingers around doors that are closing and opening, never playing with guns, not getting into a stranger's car and always wearing a seatbelt.
"I just hope it becomes ingrained in them so that they understand why these things are important," Adler says.
Unlike many children's books written in third person, Adler writes in first person.
"I need to keep my hands clean, especially before I eat, and after I go to the potty."
"I need to use the slide safely by only going down and not climbing up."
As a result, the reader feels as if he or she is making a decision about his or her own behavior, rather than being preached to. She also made the book engaging and kid-friendly by not using big and hyphenated words.
"I insisted that the pictures be very colorful with lots of pets," she says, "And I wanted it multicultural and multigenerational."
It's a safe bet that youngsters can benefit from reading Adler's book.
"Keep Me Safe at Home and in My Community, A handbook on Safety for Young Children and their Families" is available at www.authorhouse.com. Anyone interested in having Adler read at a school or library may contact her at stanleym18@hotmail.com or scasertano@msn.com.
