"What's Up with Sean?" Medikidz Explain Scoliosis

by Kim Chilman-Blair

Scoliosis is a mysterious condition, as the true cause of nearly 80 percent of cases remains unknown. This intriguing condition is presented like never before, through graphic novel format. Superheroes represent different systems of the body, and they engagingly explaining the condition and its impact on the body.

40 pages, Library Binding

First published September 16, 2009

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

We needed some info on scoliosis, but our library only had a yoga DVD and this weird but well-intentioned comic. Obviously aimed at an elementary to middle school audience but featuring "hip" (if surprisingly sexist) high school kids, I found it mildly informative but also generally awkward on a number of levels.

Sure, the artwork is less-than-Marvel standards, and the dialogues is frequently cringe-worthy - "But I can still groove with the fat cats? I mean, just because I'm wavy doesn't mean I'm a square, right?" Plus (and most personally disturbing), by the end of the book Sean - with his combed-back wavy hair, plaid shirt and ever-growing eyes and lengthening eyelashes - looks exactly like Seth Myers' lesbian writer Jenny Hagel.

But then...I did a quick Google/Amazon search, and learned that scoliosis is about the "lightest" condition addressed in this nearly 50-title series, nearly all of which address issues that must be pretty damn scary to any sufferers in their target audience: autism, ADHD, epilepsy, osteosarcoma, diabetes, leukemia, brain tumors, burns, thalassaemia, hormone deficiency, swine flu, brain tumors, depression (understandable, if all these kids go to the same school!), idiopathetic arthritis, Crohn's disease...it's almost a relief to learn that "what's up with Jason" is only that he has a slipped hip.

So okay, as literature these books are probably 2-star at best - but as a source of kid-level information on a wide range of childhood diseases and conditions that are truly heartbreaking to any family, I give the series and Dr. Chilman-Blair as a whole a well-deserved 5 stars.

You can learn more about Medikidz founder Dr. Kim Chilman-Blair here: https://thestoryexchange.org/nz-women..., and see a Sky News story on the Medikidz and Dr. Kim here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7O3K....

[Marilyn]

Helpful for an overview of how it happened and how to fix