My stammering book is the book I wish I had growing up

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Alexander

Alexander Taylor tells us the story behind his children's book It's No B BB Bother.

My self-published children's book It's No B BB Bother is the result of three years of development and ideas, with inspiration coming from my own lived experience. I'm currently 24 and I've had a stammer since I was very young. 

As a visual artist, I wanted to create a stepping stone into the world of stammering to help not only those who stammer, but also to educate others on what a stammer is and give them a few ways they can help. 

The book took many forms throughout the whole development: the story, the illustrations and even what I wanted it to be. It was once I started to look at what children's books were on the market that I realised that there was a lack of exposure for those who stammer. I then knew that I wanted to create a story where the stammer was the plot. Nothing else going on, just solely focused on having a stammer.

I want readers to feel happy and understand that it's OK to stammer.

With the illustrations, I really wanted to create a simplistic, eye-catching world that is both easy to understand and recognisable. As a mixed-media illustrator, I tried lots of methods to create this, from pastel and paint to digital art. 

It wasn't until I did a Creative in Residency that I re-discovered my love and passion for collage and ‘wonky' illustrations. This was my eureka moment! As expected, the characters and world took many variations and hours to get them the way I wanted, however this was all worth it. 

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Alexander's book 'It's No B BB Bother'

This is also where a challenge arose: how do you visualise a stammer in a way everyone can understand? Clear characters and storytelling with easy-to-read text which is written like a stammer sounds — this was my solution. I believe it works really well and is really accessible.

The book's message

For my book, the goal is simple. With my sloth character being an advocate for stammering, I want readers to feel happy and understand that it's OK to stammer. That even though you may struggle and feel sad when you stammer, people will understand and will be accepting of who you are. It's about who you are, not how you speak. I also want people who don't stammer to understand that it's much better to let a person who stammers finish and not interrupt them, rather than trying to guess what they're saying or talk over them. 

It's about who you are, not how you speak.

This is my latest project, following on from 'Stammer Situations' and my foundation art degree project on 'Expressing my stammer visually'. The years of research I did for these really helped with the book. For instance, looking into the different types of stammering and the science behind it, as well as my own experience. 

It's No B BB Bother has been out just over a month and a half now and the feedback has been better than I ever thought, with semi-consistent sales, getting it into a shop, and even having a child take it in to school for World Book Day! I'm also partnering with Durham University to get it backed as a project with ethics, to help reshape how primary education is taught, with the goal to make it more inclusive for everyone. 

This is where it's important to note that the book is an introduction to stammering and a story meant to show that it's OK to stammer. I plan to do some educational work in the future, backed by further research, going into detail about stammering, to be used by all to help understand or guide someone who stammers. I am soon meeting with some NHS speech & language therapists to see how this idea could be expanded. 

To summarise, It's No B BB Bother is the book I wish I had growing up. My goal is to help kids understand that their stammer isn't a bother, and to help them feel seen and heard at such an important time in their early development.  

It's No B BB Bother is a self-published book by Alexander Taylor, and is available to buy from his website. Read what a parent and daughter, and a speech & language therapist, thought of the book.