Wiggling Words: Loving Language with Dyslexia

“A visually rich and empowering read.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

For children who find that words turn into all kinds of shapes on the page, a picture-book creator with dyslexia offers an inspiring story that brings fun and confidence in reading.

What if you really want to read a story to the end, but the words keep wiggling, jiggling, and jumping? If you’re the child in this book, you might get very frustrated! But as the child keeps looking at the letters, they have a realization. And suddenly, they imagine a world where anything can be, a world where ideas are seeds to be sown, seeds that will bloom and grow. In ingenious illustrations, author Kate Rolfe visually conveys the experience of dyslexia or neurodivergence as a child invents a creative way to tackle a mountain of letters by using letter shapes to build a world of possibilities. Set in a dyslexic-friendly font ideal for boosting optimism among struggling child readers or the parents, teachers, or librarians who work with them, Wiggling Words ends with an author’s note that includes some tips that have bolstered her love of letters, words, and stories.A powerful visual metaphor for the dyslexic learning experience. . . . A validating author’s note reminds readers of the many ways to learn. . . . A visually rich and empowering read.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Eye-catching in its starkness and respectful of readers who, like the protagonist, may grapple with visually cluttered pages. Emotive artwork captures the child’s exasperation and grit, while limited text in a dyslexia-friendly font emphasizes powerful action verbs and innovative problem solving. . . .A must for all elementary collections.
—Booklist (starred review)Kate Rolfe is an author and illustrator whose debut picture book, Wolf and Bear, was short-listed for the 2024 Waterstones Children's Book Prize and longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize. She lives in England.