Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio is an autobiography account of author Peg Kehret

Peg Kehret

Peg Kehret is an American writer. Her writing primarily targets younger children between the ages of 8 and 14....

's childhood experience of polio.

Plot

In 1948, twelve-year-old Peg Kehret starts to notice some twitching in her leg during her school choir class, and then she also falls. When she gets home, she and her parents call a doctor. It turns out that she is diagnosed with not one, but three types of polio. She spends the next several months in a hospital fighting for her life. She moves hospitals a few times, and she has to get rid of contaminated things along the way, like a teddy bear from Art, Peg's older brother.

She has new room-mates, including Tommy, a younger boy in an iron lung, and "the iron horse",Peg's wheelchair. She struggles to overcome paralysis and learn to walk again. She also fights to stay off of a medical ventilator /respirator, and to swallow milkshakes (while in an oxygen tent) without choking which ends up saving her life. During her stay at a different hospital, she becomes friends with several other girls with polio: Renee, Shirley, Alice, and Dorothy. She learns that Alice had been at the hospital for 10 years, because her family didn't want her. Together, they endure hardships and celebrate accomplishments as they attempt to live normal lives in the hospital while fighting polio.

Characters

• Peg- Main character and narrator of the story, diagnosed with polio. She became an author.
• Tommy- Peg's hospital roommate at University Hospital, in an iron lung.
• Renee- Sheltering Arms roommate, goes home for chrismas.
• Shirley-Sheltering Arms roommate, who has the most trouble with polio.
• Alice- Sheltering Arms roommate, whose been there for ten years. Her parents didn't want to take care of her because she was so badly crippled, and she became a ward of the state.
• Dorothy- Sheltering Arms roommate, who strives to be in leg braces to go home. Is able to return home, because her family built her a ramp.
• Mrs. Crab- Peg's physical therapist at University Hospital, whom Peg doesn't like.
• Art- Peg's older, good looking brother.
• Dr. Bevis- Peg's attractive doctor at University Hospital, to whom she promises to walk for one day.
• Miss. Ballard- Peg's physical therapist at Sheltering Arms that she's very fond of.
• Beth and Bob- Peg's parents who bring treats for Peg and the girls every Sunday.