Doctors With The Write Stu

A special book is just the remedy
for kids — and adults — on
your gift-giving list.

Photographer Kendra Dew chats with Ryan Safian and Dr. Marc Freed
during a photo session. Dew has been photographing children for more
than 20 years in her Berkley studio and her photos are an integral part
of the book.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN

Magic of Children,

Special to The Jewish News

which showcases
tender photographs
of; and hilarious
quotes by, children.
Stocked at all area
bookstores, the book
retails for $12.95
and hits right to the
heart of just about
celebration
anyone who loves
of 'Life,
children.
"Children really do
Love,* &
have a magipl quality
about them," says
Freed, who, as a sin-
gle guy with no chil-
dren — yet —
defines himself as "the
world's best uncle."
Reading this book will cause hearty
laughter and sweet tears, he says.
"Kids invite you to join them in their

D

r. Mark Freed strummed
his guitar as he led a class-
room of 6-year-olds in
song. The kids got so into
it, humming and chirping and yelling
out the words that a teacher in a near-
by classroom ran in to find out where
all the noise was coming from. "We
had so much fun, and the kids created
so much noise, that the teacher barged
in to see if there had been an acci-
dent," the 42-year-old book publisher
recalled.
Freed insists that he's "always been
a kid," and the turn his career has
taken certainly supports that state-
ment. A Birmingham-based cardiolo-
gist, Freed started a publishing compa-
ny eight years ago to produce books
like the recently-released tome, The

12/4
1998

N: ,Irs

It,

Author Dr. Mark Freed establishes
instant rapport with children. Here he
is with Ryan Safian of West
Bloomfield.

magical life."
The book, co-
authored by car-
diologist and
father-of-three
Dr. Robert
Safian, and with
photographs by
Kendra Dew
quotes many
children. Ellis,
age 3, says that
what he loves
most about his
mom is "the
way she makes
my toes tingle."
Becky, 4, says,
"It's sunny in my
imagination, but
it's cloudy for real." Vivid black-and-
white photographs capture children at
their silliest and most tender moments:

covered in blankets, embracing a parent,
looking open-faced and wide-eyed ar the
sky.
A portion of the book's proceeds go
to the foundation of the same name.
Created by Freed, the Magic of Children
Foundation is an effort to bring doctors,
nurses and other health care profession-
als into schools to teach healthy habits.
In his line of work, Freed has seen
adults stricken with heart disease who
"never learned good health habits as they
were growing up. I want to plant the
seeds of good health in our kids now, so
they grow up healthy — and stay that
way," he says.
The rest of the profits will "go to
growing the product line." This book is
the first in a series of similar titles; peo-
ple can submit their own quotes and
stories to such titles as "The Magic of
Mothers" and "The Magic of Families."
(Submit via the Foundation's website: