Nathan's Wish: A Story about Cerebral Palsy

By Laurie Lears and Stacey Schuett

Nathan lives next door to Miss Sandy, a raptor rehabilitator. She’s very busy taking care of injured birds of prey, like owls and hawks. Nathan wishes he could help Miss Sandy with some of her chores, but he is confined to his wheelchair because of cerebral palsy. Then Fire, an owl with a broken wing, comes to Miss Sandy. Fire is desperate to fly and Nathan can’t wait for Fire to get her wish. But on the day Fire tries to fly, she cannot do it. Miss Sandy says the owl’s wing will never be strong enough. The light goes out in Fire’s eyes and she stops eating. Nathan desperately searches for a way to help Fire, not realizing that what he finds will help transform his life as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman Company
• Release date: Aug 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497675087

Laurie Lears

Laurie Lears lives on a small farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, three dogs, and three cats. She teaches kindergarten and has two grown daughters and a granddaughter. She has written several books for children.

Reviews for Nathan's Wish

[Jeannie Meekins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A gentle story that shouldn't be pigeon holed. Nathan's disability could be anything. It's his desire to not let that stand in his way that is important. Beautiful illustrations compliment the story.

[kbork1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overall, I really enjoyed Nathan’s Wish. One thing I absolutely loved was the metaphor and overall message throughout the story. Nathan, the main character, was born with cerebral palsy and he can only walk with a walker or must use a wheelchair. He spends a lot of time with neighbor, Miss Sandy, who is a Raptor Rehabilitator. Nathan learned a lot about resilience by watching and helping an owl named Fire recover from a wing injury. Fire’s resilience in recovery was used as a metaphor to Nathan’s life with cerebral palsy because though it was difficult for Fire to recover and her life wouldn’t be the same as before, she continued to work hard and recover a little bit, which is similar to how Nathan’s cerebral palsy affects his life and makes everyday tasks such as helping Miss Sandy more difficult. The overall message of the story was that people with disabilities need to work a little harder to try to do things that people without disabilities can do, but they can still achieve those same aspirations.Another thing I liked about this book were the illustrations. I can’t tell what medium the illustrations were created out of, but I love how big they are because they really help tell the story. With there being little text on each page, you can really get into the story because your eyes are drawn to the illustrations.Finally, I loved the author’s voice and tone throughout the story. When Nathan, the main character and narrator, spoke it sounded like something a kid with a disability would say. For instance, at the beginning of the story Nathan says, “More than anything I wish I could walk. Then I would help Miss Sandy with her chores instead of just watching her. But I have cerebral palsy and my muscles don’t work well enough for me to get around without my wheelchair or walker.” Nathan just sounds like any other kid, but is open about his disability, which I think helps students relate to and learn from this story because they are learning about disabilities their classmates or other people they know may have.I would recommend this story for kids in second and third grade. I think it’s a great story that isn’t too difficult to comprehend, but the metaphor with Fire’s injury and recovery might be a little deeper for students, so it’d be a great whole-class read-aloud activity.

[evandy1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book because it helped to show how someone with cerebrala palsy might feel. It was very informative and atught the reader's a lot about the disease. In the book, a boy named Nathan has cerebral palsy and also has a neighbor who takes care of birds. One of the birds has a hurt wing and is unable to fly so they try to nurse it back to health to gegt it to fly again. When this mission becomes unsuccessful, Nathan trys to find another way to make the bird happy so instead of getting the bird to fly he gets the bird to help teach baby birds to fly on their own. The baby birds learn to fly and the bird is happy. Nathan decides that he is going to help out his neighbor so he can feel accomplished and happy too. He does small chores such as get the mail and feed the birds but his neighbor is very aprreciative of his help. In the story, the bird is like Nathan. They are both handicapped and unable to walk and fly no matter how hard they try so they find other ways to be productive and happy. This book was extremely well written and had a strong and powerful message.

[ehopki7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved reading this book. Nathan's character was very well developed; he was relatable and likable, and made you want the best for him. The illustrations in this story were beautiful and definitely added to the story. The book pushed the reader to think about what it is like to be a person with a disability, trapped in a body that won't work in the ways that it needs to. The main idea of this story is to never let anything hold you back. Nathan related to the injured birds, especially the one that will never be able to fly again. After he sees that that bird took on the role of caring for orphaned baby birds, he realized that it is possible for him, and everyone, to still make a difference regardless of any disability.

[kbarry9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In my opinion, this was a well written and descriptive book. the book had a positive message for students to understand that people with exceptionalities want to be just like everyone else, and to not feel a sense of being left out or loneliness. The little boy consistently connected with the owl, and he fed all of his energy into the owl to never give up, and to remain hopeful and persevere through it's injured wing. The sentence that really captured this was when Nathan stated that the owl had to never give up for the both of them, because he knew what it felt like to be an outcast and watching from the outside looking in.

[juliekessler1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book a lot because the main focus was not the main character’s, Nathan, disorder. The story had a nice flow and plot and was really interesting. “Nathan’s Wish,” is about a little boy who wants to help his neighbor bird keeping but cannot because of his disorder. Throughout the book he also watches one of the owls, struggle with flying. Nathan can connect with the owl because the owl’s wings no longer work, just like Nathan’s legs. As a reader you are finding the connection between the owl and Nathan, which then makes the whole story more in sighting and relatable. Nathan knows how the owl feels because that is exactly how Nathan feels about not being able to walk. Nathan learns from the owl, that just because the owl wants to fly and cannot, that the owl can still perform tasks. In this case, the owl is very upset he cannot fly free, however he can feed all of the other owls in the cage. This gives Nathan an idea! Although he cannot walk around and help with the birds, he still can do little things for his neighbor such as answering her phone calls, filling up buckets of water, and getting the mail for her. The main idea of this is inform the reader about the struggles of cerebral palsy but also show hope. Ms. Sandy, the neighbor, awards Nathan at the end and tells him about how much of a help he was that day. Nathan learns that although he cannot help the way he wants to, he can still help in little ways.

[tsmith44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book about a boy who has cerebral palsy. I read this book for my text set and I really enjoyed it. I liked this book because of the message it gave. Nathan uses a wheelchair and crutches because of his cerebral palsy. He starts to help his neighbor with nursing sick birds back to health and becomes fascinated with one bird, Fire. The main message in this book was being useful and finding something you love to do. Nathan struggles in the beginning of the book because he thinks because of his disability he cannot be helpful or do much. For example, “I know just how it feels to wish for something that can’t come true.” Nathan feels sorry for himself and for the bird Fire because neither of them can fly away and be free from their worry and lives. Nathan then realizes that he can help his neighbor in ways that do not require him to do any physical activity. The message in this book is great because if you feel like you cannot fly away from the life you live, make the best of what you have and you can surprise yourself.