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Let's Hear It For Almigal
Big Blend Radio interviews Wendy Kupfer about her award-winning children's picture book based on her family’s personal experiences with hearing loss.

Inspired by her own daughter Ali’s profound hearing loss diagnosed at only 10 months of age, Wendy Kupfer wanted to write a story that would have helped them through the tougher of times. So was born Let’s Hear it for Almigal, a feel-good, giggle-out-loud picture book that helps children accept and celebrate their differences – showcasing a spunky little girl with a big personality named Almigal who wants to hear “every single sound in the whole entire universe!”

In the book, young Almigal yearns to hear her friend Isabella’s baby brother’s laugh, the robins singing outside her bedroom window, the soft Swan Song Madam plays during ballet class, and her friend Chloe’s teeny-tiny voice. But most of all, Almigal wants to hear her Mommy and Daddy whisper, “We love you, Almigal!” when they tuck her into bed at night. Illustrator Tammie Lyon, best known for her work on the Eloise series for Simon and Schuster, captures Almigal’s uplifting spirit, her friend’s endearing “Let’s hear it for Almigal!” cheers, and of course highlights Almigal’s new cotton-candy pink cochlear implants in colorful, lively images throughout the pages.

Almigal’s experiences are based on real events – like Ali accidentally jumping into the swimming pool one time without removing her hearing aids. “I really did save the day with my hairdryer!” Kupfer said. “It was something we will never forget.”

Kupfer hopes to heighten awareness in a positive way of kids with hearing loss, or who have a “difference” in some way, so that their challenges can be understood and accepted by their peers. And with more than 12,000 babies born in the U.S. each year with hearing loss, the author is donating five percent of book sales to support these children.

Let’s Hear it for Almigal was named among the best in family-friendly media, taking Gold in the Mom’s Choice Awards for Children’s Picture Books – Values & Life Lessons.

Wendy Kupfer has worked closely with Thomas Balkany, MD, Chair of the University of Miami Department of Otolaryngology, and one of the leading cochlear implant surgeons in the country. Born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs where she lived for 35 years, the author now lives with her husband in Delray Beach, Florida. Tammie Lyon is the award-winning illustrator of numerous picture books for children. Two of her more recent titles, My Pup and Bugs In My Hair, were listed in the “Top 100 Best Children’s Books” by the Bank Street College of Education. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Learn more at www.Almigal.com

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Wendy Kupfer discusses 'Let's Hear it for Almigal'