The Book Next Door

I put my disclaimer/copyright information here, not inside the books, because it’s so confusing for anyone with memory or concentration issues to have to read this kind of thing.

First: all rights are reserved. These books are my intellectual property, and you can’t copy them without permission. Of course, there’s an exception if you want to quote from them in a review, or copy a few pages to show someone else. That’s fair use. The books are all my original work, except for the classic poetry books, which use public domain/out of copyright work (or where I have purchased the rights to use the work). The illustrations and photographs have all been purchased from stock image libraries. Please contact me as soon as possible if you have any concerns about copyright. I’ll just note that legal issues need to be settled in Western Australia under Western Australian law, because that’s where my business is registered.

The second thing is to talk about is my legal disclaimer. All the books have input from someone with expertise and qualifications in dementia care, but still, I am not making any therapeutic claims. I hope the books engage, delight, promote conversation and reminiscence, help people keep their minds active and alert, and support rehab or therapy. The reviews suggest that they do – however, these books are not a replacement for professional support. If you need professional support and advice, please seek it out.

I also need to point out that I’ve been very careful to choose happy, positive poems, text and pictures. But of course, I don’t know your loved one. There could be a picture or a poem that distresses them – for example, a cat might remind them of a beloved cat who died. So I do suggest looking at the books with them to make sure that they are appropriate. If you find that there’s a page or a picture that triggers some sort of unhappy memory, perhaps you could paste something over it.

Spelling: I’m a New Zealander by birth, grew up in the North of England, and now live in Australia. So while I do try to make the books reflect all possible experiences, I mostly use British/Australian spelling, or try to avoid words that might look ‘wrong’ to American readers.

Oh, one final thing! If you order a book and the print quality is not up to standard, or it has been damaged in transit, please contact Amazon for replacement. They will do that. You deserve the best!

Thanks so much. I’d love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for future books.