When Rebecca Laffar-Smith’s son Joshua was in grade school, he rwould resist engaging with anything pertaining to books and reading. Dyslexia and autism created barriers in his learning, and made it especially difficult for him to complete literacy-oriented tasks. As a result, his language skills fell behind, his self esteem dropped, and he came to dislike school entirely.

A big part of the problem, as we know from our work at Story Shares, was that Joshua didn't have access to the right kinds of material: books that were interesting to his age, but written with language and formatting that he was able to read independently. The solution? With Joshua's input, Rebecca created a book for her son that met him at his unique intersections of ability and interests. P.I. Penguin was born, and so sparked Joshua's lasting interest in reading.