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Dandy lions: Kids get the lion’s share in new books

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006

Lions loom large in new books two county authors have written for very young children. D.C.’s Magination Press published ‘‘Lions Aren’t Scared of Shots: A Story for Children About Visiting the Doctor” by pediatrician Howard J. Bennett of Bethesda, and Rockville-bred Carol Bushar wrote, illustrated and self-published ‘‘Robby the Lion Doesn’t Eat Meat.”

Why lions? In Dr. Bennett’s story, 5-year-old Molly chooses to imagine herself a lion because she perceives it as a brave creature. That’s precisely the characteristic she covets when about to get a shot in the doctor’s office. The image has precedents in literature and history — the Lion King and Richard the Lion-Hearted.

Bushar’s title character Robby the Lion, on the other hand, is a kind-hearted, sociable creature. He is emphatically not the archetypal carnivore, instead opting for a diet of ‘‘radishes, mushrooms and spice!” and ‘‘soybeans, cornmeal and rice” instead of ‘‘oxen and zebra, and of course, antelope feet.”

Dr. Bennett, who practices pediatrics in D.C., takes his young readers through a routine medical exam. His purpose is twofold: to inform children of what happens during a regular check-up and to alleviate their anxieties about such visits — even shots.

In a note to parents that follows the story, clinical psychologist Jane Annunziata points out that ‘‘Bibliotherapy can be a helpful tool. This book, for example, is psychologically helpful because it shows a child finding a brave way to cope with a fear, which inspires children to do the same thing.”

Brooklyn-born and Long Island-bred Bennett traces his interest in the psychological aspects of pediatrics to his time at the George Washington University School of Medicine and a pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center. (He continues both affiliations, serving as a clinical professor of pediatrics at GW and on the Community Advisory Staff at Children’s.)

‘‘One of the things I noticed early on is ... a big difference between the way adults and children view health care,” Bennett observes. ‘‘When adults see the doctor, they mostly worry about what’s wrong with them and how an illness will affect their responsibilities at home and work.

‘‘When children see the doctor, they worry most about what we are going to do to them.”

In his own practice, he says, ‘‘I try to make every visit as pleasant as possible for children. I use humor and imaginative play whenever I can. I use humor and imaginative play whenever I can. This includes verbal and physical humor, slapstick, and I even use clown toys that I keep in the office.”

‘‘‘Lions’ is an outgrowth of techniques I use with children to make visits less threatening,” he says, recalling that ‘‘the actual idea for the book hit me one day when I was driving home from work. I was thinking about an encounter I had in the office and thought, ‘Wow, I can write a story about that!’”

As ‘‘an outgrowth of what I see every day,” Bennett says the book ‘‘was not difficult to write. Once I got the idea, I spent about a month writing the first draft and another six to eight weeks rewriting.” He writes at night ‘‘when all of my other responsibilities are done.”

‘‘Finding a publisher was much more difficult, he says, noting that ‘‘the manuscript was rejected by 16 publishers.”

This is Bennett’s second book for children. His self-help book for children and parents ‘‘Waking Up Dry: A Guide to Help Children Overcome Bedwetting,” his first, took three years to write. He maintains a Web site, www.wakingupdry.com, where he posts related information. Previously, he wrote two collections of humor for doctors.

Bennett ‘‘definitely” plans to write more for children. His ‘‘Lions” publisher has accepted his manuscript for ‘‘No More Tummy Aches,” a book that will help children deal with common potty fears. And he’s working on two additional manuscripts.

Carnivore no more

In ‘‘Robby the Lion,” Carol Bushar seeks to teach young children that being true to yourself may be difficult and frightening – but can result in self-satisfaction as well as approval from others. The lifelong Rockville resident and Rockville High School alumna, who now lives in Chile, says the story comes out of her own experience.

‘‘The story gleans a lot of inspiration from my life, which has generally followed an unconventional path by the standards of my family,” Bushar says. ‘‘I wanted to focus [not only] on the acceptance and love that I have received from my family and friends for my life decisions, but also to acknowledge that those changes were hard for all of us.”

While Robby chose to be a vegetarian amid a committed carnivorous culture, Bushar opted to become a vegetarian, too — and also, nearly two years ago, to move to the southern coast of Chile and pursue her ‘‘childhood dream of writing and illustrating books.” Her Chinese American family encouraged pursuing the arts — in this case, writing and drawing — only as a hobby. She complied by earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Maryland, then a dual master’s degree in urban planning and public administration from the University of Washington. But the office setting for her ‘‘promising future” with the federal government failed to ‘‘satisfy my desire to help people and make a difference.” While acknowledging that her ‘‘chances of ‘success’ at writing and publishing my own books are slim,” she says, ‘‘I can’t think of a time in my professional life where I have been happier.” And despite their beliefs and fears, she adds, her family ‘‘were and continue to be very supportive.”

Bushar says she was compelled to write the book: ‘‘The actual story ... just jumped into my head one morning and wouldn’t leave me alone until I had written it down and began sketching out the illustrations.”

Bushar is working on translating ‘‘Robby” into Spanish, which she also expects to publish through the print on demand publisher Lulu, as well as ‘‘a short novel for young readers ... about two ducks and two penguins that go for an adventure in a fishing boat” and ‘‘another picture book, a sequel to ‘Robby the Lion’ that features his little sister Ann.”

Yet another lion book? Young readers who have learned to love the king — or queen — of the beasts will no doubt subscribe to ‘‘the more [lion books], the merrier.”

‘‘Lions Aren’t Scared of Shots: A Story for Children About Visiting the Doctor,” by Howard J. Bennett is available for $14.95 hardcover, $8.95 paperback by calling Magination Press, 1-800-374-2721, or visiting www.maginationpress.com.

‘‘Robby the Lion Doesn’t Eat Meat,” by Carol Bushar is available for $11.53 paperback, $2.50 download by logging on to www.lulu.com⁄CarolBushar.