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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781496901163 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 04/02/2014 |
| Pages: | 26 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.05(d) |
Read an Excerpt
My Perfect Purple Glasses
By Cynthia L. Davis, Baby Sue Acree
AuthorHouse LLC
Copyright © 2014 Cynthia L. Davis & Baby Sue AcreeAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4969-0116-3
CHAPTER 1
Susie had just started the second grade. She loved her new teacher, Ms Black, and quickly made friends with the other children in her class. She really loved recess time where she and her friends played games outside. She also liked reading time. She and the other children would gather around Ms Black who would read aloud a wonderful story to them.
Today, during reading time, Ms Black and the school nurse told everyone they were going to have their eyes tested. The school nurse placed a chart on one side of the classroom and instructed the children to form a line on the other side of the classroom.
Ms Black stood next to Johnny, the first child in line, and placed an object that looked like a big spoon over his left eye. She instructed him to read a line of letters from the chart. When he had done so, she covered his other eye with the big spoon and instructed he read the same line of letters. He read all the letters correctly and Ms Black said, "Very good, Johnny." She then had him take his seat.
Susie began to worry. She had got something in her left eye once and everything was blurry. At the time she had thought this must be the way eyes worked and never bothered to tell anyone, not even her mother, who she told just about everything.
Today, in line, the children in front of Susie who had been tested could see out of both eyes. She began to worry when her turn came to be tested. When Ms Black placed the large spoon over her right eye, she recited the letters in the line perfectly, and Ms Black said, "Very good, Susie." When Ms Black placed the spoon over her left eye, everything was blurry. All Susie could see was the big E.
Susie tried and tried to make out the letters, but the harder she tried, the more blurry everything became. She could hear the other children talking to each other. Some were even laughing. Ms Black was asking, "Are you sure you can't see anything?" almost like Susie had done something bad.
Susie said some letters, any letters, just to try and please Ms Black. When she realized she was all wrong, she wanted to cry. Ms Black instructed Susie to go to her seat and began to test the next child in line.
When Susie sat down, Gregg, the boy who sat next to her, whispered, "You can so see out of that eye. You're just acting like you can't."
Susie exclaimed, "No I can't!"
Gregg looked at Susie in a way that made Susie feel worse than she already felt. "Can so!" he said. "You're lying!" He started singing to the other children at the table, "Susie is a liar! Susie is a liar!"
Susie could take no more. She stood up and pushed Gregg. Gregg fell backwards. Then Susie jumped on top of him, hitting him as hard as she could. Suddenly, she could feel arms pulling her backwards, away from Gregg, and turned her head to see Ms Black. Her teacher had her firmly by the shoulders. She turned Susie around to face her. "Susie, what has got into you?" she exclaimed.
Susie could feel the eyes of all the other children on her. Her face felt hot. She broke away from Ms Black and ran out of the classroom, down the hall, and into the girl's bathroom. She went into the stall at the very end of bathroom, closed and locked the door, and began to cry and cry. She did not come out for a long time, even when Ms Black pleaded with her. She just knew her world was never going to be the same again.
CHAPTER 2A few days later, Susie's mother took her to see a doctor. Her mother told Susie the doctor was called an optometrist. He instructed Susie to read letters on an eye chart just like she had done in her classroom. He did a lot of other tests to determine how well Susie could see. He was a very nice man and let Susie pick a prize from the prize box after all the tests were done.
The doctor told them Susie had amblyopia in her right eye. He said her vision in that eye was 20/200. Susie looked puzzled and tried to say the word. Something came out of her mouth that sounded like "ameba." The doctor patted her shoulder and replied, "Grown-ups have a hard time saying the word, too. We will practice it so you can say it correctly."
The doctor said, "When people look at something, each eye sees a picture, so actually the brain is seeing two pictures exactly alike at the same time. The brain blends both pictures into one picture. This enables the brain to perceive the distance and shape of the objects in the picture."
"A child with amblyopia sees a picture of an object out of one eye but a different picture of the same object out of the other eye. The brain is uncomfortable seeing double, so the brain turns off the picture in the eye which appears blurry. Children need to use both eyes for sight to develop properly. If the amblyopic eye is not used, over time it becomes more and more difficult to train the brain to see through that eye."
The doctor smiled. "Luckily for you, Susie, we have ways of helping your amblyopic eye to see the same picture as your other eye. We do this with glasses and patching."
He looked up at Susie's mother. "I am recommending Susie patch eight hours a day. Additionally, I'm going to recommend you and Susie see a vision therapist who will work with you both on exercises that will help train Susie's brain to use her amblyopic eye. I would also like for you to schedule follow up appointments with me to track Susie's progress."
Susie's mother replied, "I understand, doctor, and I assure you I will do whatever it takes to provide Susie with the chance to achieve the best vision possible!"
When they left the optometrist's office, Susie and her mother went to buy some glasses. Susie got to try on all sorts of glasses until she found the perfect pair. They were a wonderful shade of purple. She exclaimed to her mother, "I've found the perfect purple pair of glasses!"
It was not long before Susie wore her glasses for the first time to class. The other children looked at her, but not too much. After all, a couple of the other children already wore glasses. Susie began to think everything was going to work out fine. Then she saw Gregg come into the classroom.
He looked at her and laughed. "Look at Susie!" he shouted. "She's got four eyes."
"Susie's got four eyes! Susie's got four eyes!" he started to chant. The kids around him started laughing and began chanting the same words.
Susie could feel her face burning and her eyes tearing. Just when she was about to leap up and punch Gregg, she heard the chair move behind her. She turned around to see a boy sitting down next to her. He had a swatch of blond hair sticking straight up on top of his head, and he looked a lot taller than her. What struck Susie instantly, most importantly though, was that he was wearing bright blue glasses, and he was smiling!
"Don't let those guys bother you," he said. "They don't have any manners. At least, that's what my mom says."
"Hi," he continued. "My name is Tommy. I take it your name is Susie?"
The chanting of the boys in the background died as the teacher entered the classroom and instructed the children to be quiet. Tommy smiled again as Susie nodded and smiled back at Tommy.
All of a sudden, Susie did not feel so alone.
CHAPTER 3"I'm not going to wear this!" demanded Susie. "It looks stupid!" She started to rip off the patch her mother had just applied to her left eye.
"You stop that right now, young lady," her mother replied sternly. "You have to wear this patch over your eye for eight hours a day, every day."
She grabbed Susie's shoulders with both hands and looked squarely into her eyes. "Listen, Susie. Covering your left eye with a patch will force your right eye to see stronger."
"But I can't see!" cried Susie. Tears were rolling down her right eye. "Everything is blurry!"
Susie's mother put her arms around her little girl and hugged her tight. "I know it's going to be hard, Susie. But we're going to start slowly. Just a couple of hours today, and we'll work up to the eight hours." She gave Susie a big kiss. "Who loves you more than anything?" she asked smiling at Susie.
"You do," Susie replied hugging her mother back.
When Susie went to school the next day during lunch, she told Tommy about her having to wear a patch.
"I wore a patch when I was three," said Tommy, chewing on a tiny carrot.
"You did?" exclaimed Susie as she sipped milk from a small carton.
"Sure," replied Tommy. "But it was a long time ago. I don't even remember. Mom has shown me pictures where I was wearing the neatest patches. She said my favorite was covered with spaceships. Mom said I didn't want to at first. But then I sort of got used to it, at least long enough for my eye to see better."
Tommy looked at some apple slices in a plastic baggie sitting on the table in front of Susie. "Hey, are you gonna eat all those?" he asked. Tommy smiled as Susie handed Tommy an apple slice.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from My Perfect Purple Glasses by Cynthia L. Davis, Baby Sue Acree. Copyright © 2014 Cynthia L. Davis & Baby Sue Acree. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse LLC.
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