Northwick story cards

West Suffolk Hospital Eye Clinic

Northwick Bear School Story The "Cakes and questions" story shows that it's OK to have nystagmus, that talking about it makes life a lot easier and that we all ask the same questions.

Naheed Farooqi, hospital orthoptist: "I absolutely love the Tales of Northwick book. It's so well written and the pictures are lovely. It's a great help to children in understanding nystagmus and it informs parents too about what it's like to look through the eyes of someone with nystagmus."

Northwick Bear School Story "Northwick Zeroes In" helps teachers understand some of the challenges faced by children with nystagmus. This Northwick Bear story explains how numbers can jump around on the page and Northwick's dilemma about his height.

Northwick is a very special teddy bear. He lives with a boy called Frank and his family. Both Northwick and Frank have nystagmus. Below are some extracts from the book "Tales of Northwick". You can find out more about Northwick, download stories and see pictures at http://www.northwickbear.com/.

From "A Bear with no Name"

"Northwick" The bear rolled the word around on the tip of his tongue and then tried it out in his brain. It was a very respectable name for a bear. It had a certain style to it. It wasn't too short and it wasn?t too long. It wasn't too fat and it wasn't too thin.

From "Northwick's First Day at School"

Naturally, Northwick was far too polite a bear to say anything about another bear's appearance, especially as he knew some people found his size and his spectacles amusing. So, putting on his politest and friendliest voice (Northwick did have a very gruff voice too, which befitted a bear of his size, but he kept that for special occasions) Northwick said, "Hello, my name is Northwick and I'm very pleased to meet you."

From "Sticks and Stones"

"My eyes aren't wobbling!" said Northwick, getting a little flustered. In fact, his eyes did feel a bit strange, but he was sure they had been all right a moment ago. And, although they felt strange, it didn't feel to him like they were wobbling.

"Yes, they are. They're jumping all over the place. Just like Frank's do sometimes," said Ryan, getting more excited and laughing at the bear.

NORTHWICK'S BOOK

You can read the full versions of nine Northwick stories in his illustrated book "Tales of Northwick" or on audio CD. Click here for details on how to order the book and the CD. All proceeds go to NN.

More stories about Frank and Northwick appear regularly in our Focus newsletter which is sent to all members of NN.

"These wry and amusing stories (obviously aimed primarily at children) are very appealing to adults, too - in fact, I just showed my work colleague the latest one (funnily enough, she has a cat called Elvis rather than a dog) and she thinks the stories are wonderful, too! These stories are one of the highlights of Focus (Nystagmus Network UK magazine) for me." -- Carole

"Thank goodness for Northwick! He has travelled to 2 nurseries and to school now, giving the teachers a great insight into Olivia's world. Seriously, it has been an invaluable tool. Where teachers may skim read sheets of paper with info on Nystagmus, they all read Northwick in detail! Don't think he's just for children!" - Maxine, Olivia's mum.

"I always enjoy Northwick - you seem to have a knack for using him to get right to the heart of some of the less obvious issues we face, and always triumphing in the face of adversity (or at least having another biscuit)." - Owen Evans.

"It looks good for empowering a few of the students I work with when they have to contend with 'difficult' teachers!" - Teacher of visually impaired children.