About this item
"Two soccer players collide on the field. A soldier in Afghanistan is thrown to the ground during a bomb explosion. A teen has an accident while riding her bike—and she isn't wearing her helmet. Each of these incidents can produce a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Of the 1.7 million Americans officially diagnosed with TBI each year, 52,000 die from their injuries. And that doesn't count all the unreported TBIs, which experts estimate range from about two to four million more incidents. TBIs range from concussions to penetrating head injuries to life-threatening brain swelling and coma. And they have countless causes: war, sports, car and motorcycle accidents, falls, and physical violence. The aftereffects can be devastating, including compromised memory and concentration, loss of hearing, physical disabilities, depression, brain disorders, and, in the worst-case scenario, death.
About the Author
Connie Goldsmith writes nonfiction books about history, health, and science for teens. She has twenty-three children's books (two coming out in fall 2018 and one spring 2019) to her credit, all but one with Lerner Publishing. Her works include books about military working dogs, suicide, addiction/overdose, the U.S. nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands, traumatic brain injury, malaria, influenza, antibiotic resistant infections, and the California Gold Rush, among others. Currently, she is working on several nonfiction and fiction projects.She is a big fan of today's young adult and middle-grade novels and reads one or two of them each week. Over the past fourteen years, she has reviewed more than 800 children's books for a regional parenting publication, and many others for the New York Journal of Books. She has more than 200 articles published in various genres. These include California Kids, the children's magazines Cricket and Highlights, the SCBWI Bulletin, and Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market.As an RN with a master's degree in health, Ms. Goldsmith has also written continuing education articles for nurses and other health care professionals on a wide variety of topics, and has written a pediatric health column for a regional parenting publication. Visit her at www.conniegoldsmith.com and www.bombsoverbikini.com. Ms. Goldsmith is a member of the Authors Guild and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in the SCBWI California North/Central region. She lives near Sacramento, California where she hikes along the American River, sweats out the miles on her treadmill, plays with her crazy cats, and visits with family and friends between bouts of frenzied research and writing.
