GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
Hits a Home Run with New Picture Book
by Melissa Fales
By all accounts, Gavin Newsom is a successful man. In addition to being elected the 40th Governor of California and recently surviving a failed recall attempt, he’s managed more than 20 businesses and served as the mayor of San Francisco despite struggling with dyslexia his whole life. In his new picture book, Ben & Emma’s Big Hit, Newsom seeks to show the millions of children who experience learning differences that within those challenges they can find opportunities to excel. “For me, dyslexia turned out to be the greatest gift and the reason for any success I’ve had in life,” he says. “Dyslexia isn’t a burden, it’s a gift. This book is about how all of those liabilities you feel when you have learning differences can become your greatest strengths.”
Newsom learned about his learning differences after school one day when he stumbled across some clinical files from the speech and learning center where he had been receiving remedial help for years. “Until then, I had no idea there was something different about me,” he says. “I just assumed that everyone was getting remedial help.” Within those files, Newsom found “devastatingly honest” assessments of his reading and articulation abilities. When Newsom confronted his mother, she told him that he had dyslexia. “I said, ‘What’s dyslexia?’” he recalls. His mother explained that dyslexia was the reason he couldn’t read as well as his sister and why he struggled in school. “That was a big ‘aha’ moment for me,” Newsom says. “My mother had never told me because she didn’t want me to use it as a crutch. She didn’t want it to be an excuse.”
The inspiration to write Ben & Emma’s Big Hit came after Newsom realized that some of his own four children had learning differences. “Of course, I was inspired by what I experienced as a child, but the impetus for the book came when I was reading to my children and recognized the signs,” he says. “So, I did what any parent would do. I went out and tried to find picture books that spoke to their struggle.” The trouble was, Newsom couldn’t find any. “There are many books on learning differences, but not that many picture books about them for children,” he says. “That’s when I went to work to see if this was something I could address.”
Set to release December 7, Ben & Emma’s Big Hit introduces Ben, an avid baseball player, who, much like Newsom did, excels on the baseball diamond but struggles in the classroom where dyslexia impedes his learning. Thanks to his dedicated teacher, Ms. Kim, and his friend, Emma, Ben comes to realize that he’s not alone and that everyone has their own unique set of talents and challenges. “Ms. Kim is a composite of my mother and other teachers who had my back and never gave up on me,” says Newsom. Emma is loosely based on Newsom’s sister. “I always thought she was smarter than me because she could read so well,” he says. “She actually enjoyed reading books. But Emma has a learning disability, too. She’s too embarrassed to talk about it. I wanted to create a space for people where they would feel ok just being themselves. I want kids to know it’s ok to show vulnerability.”
In Ben & Emma’s Big Hit, Newsom encourages children struggling with dyslexia or other learning differences to find out what their unique skill set is. “You’ll find those areas in your life where you excel,” he says. “Build off that. You don’t have to be like everyone else. You have your own gifts and talents and that’s where you’ll shine. For me, it was baseball and that helped give me the confidence I lacked in the classroom.” Newsom got into Santa Clara college on a baseball scholarship. “If not for baseball, I never would have gotten into that college,” he says.
Ben & Emma’s Big Hit is Newsom’s effort to raise awareness that one in five children, millions of kids, have learning differences. “I’m a part of the destigmatizing movement,” he says. “When 20 percent of all Americans have learning difficulties, I think that demonstrates we need to mine this issue a little more. This is my modest contribution into that field.” The book is published in OpenDyslexic font, which is easier for people with dyslexia to read and features illustrations by Alexandra Thompson.
“I wanted to connect with those first, second, and third graders who don’t think they’re as smart as their siblings or their classmates. I want them to be aware of the extra opportunities that lie within what I know feels like a daily struggle. I want them to embrace those opportunities and I want them to know that if they face them with resilience and drive, they can triumph.”
Newsom acknowledges that dyslexia still affects his daily life. “I don’t read speeches,” he says. “I can’t. I have to memorize them. To this day, I can’t spell. I struggle with reading to the point where I have to underline what I read and read things over and over again…” But Newsom has learned to focus on what dyslexia has given him. “When you have dyslexia, all the things you have to do to overcompensate can be seen as strengths,” he says. “I can’t read speeches, so I learned to speak extemporaneously. As a child, what I lacked academically, I made up for in social and emotional intelligence. I developed the ability to feel a room. I truly believe that these skills are the only reason for any of the business or political success I’ve had in life.”
Newsom will donate all proceeds from Ben & Emma’s Big Hit to the International Dyslexia Association. “They do it all,” says Newsom. “They’re the Swiss army knife of dyslexia. They’re a wonderful resource for teachers and parents.”
While writing Ben & Emma’s Big Hit, Newsom said he couldn’t help but harken back to how he felt when he was in the second grade. “That’s when I was really starting to fall behind,” he says. “As I wrote this book, I wanted to connect with those first, second, and third graders who don’t think they’re as smart as their siblings or their classmates. I want them to be aware of the extra opportunities that lie within what I know feels like a daily struggle. I want them to embrace those opportunities and I want them to know that if they face them with resilience and drive, that they can triumph.”
For more information about Governor Gavin Newsom and Ben & Emma’s Big Hit, follow him on Twitter @GavinNewsom.
