Arthur Has a New Friend: A Basketball-Loving, Wheelchair-Using Fox

Several months ago, I told you about the "ARTHUR/All Kids Can Character Search," which invited children ages 6-12 to imagine a new friend for Arthur, one with a health problem or a disability but plenty of strengths to overcome the challenges. The winner has now been chosen, and on June 30, viewers of PBS's Arthur will meet 10-year-old Lydia Fox, a new arrival to Elwood City who uses a wheelchair due to a spinal injury caused by diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool at age 7. As her creator, 11-year-old Connor Gordon of Savage, Minnesota, wrote on his contest form, Lydia "likes to draw and design T-shirts. She likes track, baseball, and basketball."

That's a glimpse of Lydia there in the photo along with Connor and Marc Brown, creator of Arthur, who visited with the young artist last week and then stopped by the elementary school Connor attended to speak with the students. The school, St. John the Baptist, received $5,000 from CVS Caremark, the contest's sponsor, for its library or arts and inclusive programming. The visit was filmed for that June 30 segment, and Lydia may pop up in future episodes as well.

Connor was one of 8,500 kids who submitted their characters to the contest. I was honored to be on the panel that whittled 30 semifinalists down to 10 finalists. The creations I saw were terrific, some drawing on a child's personal experience with disability, others exhibiting a great generosity of spirit from children drawing only on imagination. Tomorrow, for Wordless Wednesday, I'll have a larger image of Lydia to show you, along with an interview with Connor and some information on the other talented finalists.

Arthur has always worked to include children with special needs in its plotlines -- Buster has asthma, Binky deals with a peanut allergy, Marina is blind, George has dyslexia, and the coming season will introduce autism through the character of Carl. What disability would you like to see next on the show? If your child imagined a character for the contest, or you just want to do so now, share your creations in the comments.

_{Photo courtesy of CVS Caremark}