Book review: Draw Your Stutter

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Catherine Woolley, STAMMA's Programme Lead for Children & Families, reviews the new book 'Draw Your Stutter' by Daniele Rossi.

Imagining your stammer as a cartoon character might sound daunting. But Daniele Rossi's new book Draw Your Stutter gives practical advice, tips and strategies on how to get started in a friendly and warm way.

In this book, cartoonist Rossi shares his own story with stammering (read more in the Your Voice he wrote for us) and how he got started drawing cartoon characters who stammer. He gives step-by-step guides for how he draws his characters Franky Banky and Ti-Ger as well as tips on how you could use these to create your own characters. 

We also get to see the fabulous creations from other adults and children who stammer sharing their own stammering designs. 

As Rossi explains, drawing your stammer can be a great way to explore your own thoughts and feelings about stammering, as well as a way to share these thoughts with others such as friends, family members or even teachers. You might even learn something about yourself that you hadn't realised yet! It can give you a space to see your stammer as something positive (potentially for the first time) or start a conversation about the challenges you face. 

But while it's great as a therapy tool, the most important thing is that it should be fun! As Rossi describes, it's the experience of drawing that matters, not whether you create the next Mona Lisa. 

This book is a really accessible way for parents and speech & language therapists to help young people think about their stammering in new and creative ways. But it's also great for people of any age who want to explore their stammer through drawing.

Why not give it a try and see what you can create? 

Draw Your Stutter by Daniele Rossi is available to buy on Amazon. Read more about it on Daniele's website frankybanky.com.

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