Local author publishes autobiography about growing up with dyslexia

| 16 May 2012 | 06:55

WARWICK — The World Federation of Neurology defines dyslexia as “a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity”.

And what would you do if you learned that you were dyslexic?

“You would write a book,” said Richard “Dick” Kraemer, author of, “Dyslexic Dick, True Adventures of My World.”

Kraemer, a Warwick resident, grew up in Monroe-Woodbury and Greenwood Lake. And all his life he struggled with reading and writing. The problem was that he didn’t know he had dyslexia.

In his autobiography, set in the mid-1960s, he explains that he thought he just had a bad case of “stupidity.”

This situation turns into series of often funny, suspenseful, dramatic, and emotional stories, as he meets the threshold of manhood.

“One of the reasons I wrote this book,” said Kraemer, “was the challenge it presented to me. All my life, I had struggled with reading and writing. Even during college, I barely squeaked by English to earn my degree. I loved to write stories, but my professors were not interested in the story, only the correct English protocol for scoring. Then years later, after discovering what dyslexia really was and the effect it had on my life, I took on my biggest challenge. I decided to write a book about my life.”

When he had finished the task, Kraemer realized that it was a funny and exciting life.

“If it were a boring story,” he said, “I would have never published it. I might be many things but boring is not one of them.”

Kraemer is now working on another volume of the series, which will be out next spring.

Essential information Dyslexic Dick - True Adventures of My World, is available now on Amazon.com, both in E-book and paperback versions.

In addition, the paperback is exclusively available locally in Warwick at the Ye Olde Warwick Book Shoppe and The Albert Wisner Public Library.

During May, you will be able to download the E-book at no charge from Amazon.

For additional information call 988-1042 or visit http://www.dyslexicdick.com/