Spot a fun way to explain asthma

Anne Wiltsher
Wednesday, June 5, 2002

'Charlie Cheetah loves sport at school, but every time he runs around he feels out of breath. Mrs Cheetah brought him to see me.' So begins Charlie Has Asthma (Haldane Mason, 4.99), one of a series of three Dr Spot books, designed to reassure children about particular health problems. Dr Spot is a friendly leopard GP with an exemplary bedside manner. Besides Charlie, his other animal patients to date are Harriet the Hippopotamus with tonsillitis, and Mike the Monkey with chickenpox. The books, aimed at children from three to seven years old, have been written by ex-nanny Jenny Leigh, who wished to marry her more current experience of working in healthcare communications with 15 years of looking after various sick charges, step-children and nieces and nephews. 'When they were ill I couldn't find books like this in the shops,' she says. Her niece's experience of asthma inspired her to write about Charlie Cheetah, and it is backed by the National Asthma Campaign. Three more books are planned - one about a lion with nits in his mane.