Kids say the funniest -- and most profound -- things. Photographer
Kendra Dew captures the essence o.fyouth in these captivating photos.
www.magicofchildren.com or
WWW. magicofchildren.org .)
The book was a hit with 11-year-old
Katie List, a sixth grader at Berkshire
Middle School in Birmingham.
"I like quote books because it gives
people other people's perspectives, sort
of like an advice book," she said.
The Magic of Children contains
quotes only from children in and
around the Detroit metropolitan area.
Book-signings may feature some tomes
marked with crayon, finger-paint or
chocolate smears, the authentic auto-
graphs of the book's authors.
Freed, who has authored many med-
ical titles, got into the publishing game
after enduring frustration at the slow
pace of medical publishing. Wanting to
"provide timely and concise medical
information," he started the Physician's
Press in 1990.
Yet this book is his most prized
accomplishment, and the one to which
he's most committed.
"[Children] have this incredible opti-
mism, innocence, spontaneity and
humor," says Freed. "Frankly, I think
adults spend too much time teaching
kids and not enough time learning from
them."
The title was inspired by his love for
children and the book's inextricable link
to the Foundation.
"So many of my colleagues are yearn-
ing for the opportunity to make mean-
ingful contributions to kids' health," he
says.
Starting this winter, the Foundation
will take health care professionals into
the schools. Working with the Centers
for Disease Control, state departments
of education and parent-teacher associa-
tions across the country, the Magic of
Children Foundation will launch its cur-
riculum locally in February and begin
national recruitment around the same
time.
Claiming his 6-year-old nephew,
Bradley, as his "best friend in the entire
world," Freed can't wait to have kids of
his own. Bradley lives in Chicago,
Freed's hometown, and the pair e-mail
and call each other frequently.
"I can see the importance of mentor-
ing, [of having good] role models,"
Freed says. "I'm a jogger, and I will
choose a path through Birmingham
where I know the most kids will be
playing. I love their spontaneity, their
eternal humor. I relate to them better
than to adults."
After graduating from Northwestern
University and the University of
Illinois Medical School, plus cardiolo-
gy training at Washington University
in St. Louis-Barnes Hospital, Freed
came to Detroit in 1990 for an inter-
ventional cardiology fellowship at
Beaumont Hospital. He's been there
ever since.
But lately, he's been writing and
editing and talking to kids far more
than practicing medicine. About 40
hours of his week are devoted to build-
ing up the Foundation.
Freed's "full-time passion" is turning
into a career. "We may get some cor-
porate sponsorship," he noted, citing
Johnson & Johnson and other med-
ical-oriented big-name companies who
have voiced interest in the project,
simply because it's backed by heavy-
hitting doctors from coast to coast.
"Everybody has a story," he says.
"Every aunt, every mom, has a story
about a daughter, niece or nephew. I
really do think [this book] is a special
type of gift. It evokes a deep sense of
feeling. The Associated Press calls it the
gift that gives because of the tie to the
Foundation."
❑
12/4
1998
Detroit Jewish News
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