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A video of an interview he did while on tour to promote the book "Ugly".

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This article outlines interesting information that the author has shared about how his mother reacted when she saw him, how many surgeries he has had and how he shared information about himself with other kids.

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Robert Hoge's new memoir is about his childhood - his first day of school, making friends and learning to ride a bike. But it's also about getting called "cripple," having multiple reconstructive surgeries and teaching himself how to play sports with two artificial limbs.

Hoge was born with deformed legs and a giant tumor between his eyes. "The tumor formed really early during my development," he tells NPR's Rachel Martin. "So it subsumed my nose and pushed my eyes to the side of my head, like a fish, and made a mess of my face, as you'd expect."

Hoge lives in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife and two daughters. His new book, for readers age 8 and up, is called Ugly.

Interview Highlights
On how his mother reacted when she learned about his deformities
I was born in the early 1970s, so before prenatal scans were commonplace, and I'm the youngest of five children. And my parents had four healthy kids before me. I'm not going to call my brothers and sisters normal, but they were certainly healthy. And so I think, you know, my parents had every right to expect the healthy, normal child they thought they were owed. But I turned up without any warning, with these deformities. And my mother didn't even see me before I was taken away to intensive care, and she knew something was wrong because it was a difficult labor. ...

And so I went away to the nursery for a week and then eventually one of the doctors convinced her to come and see me, and when she saw me, she looked down the cot and decided that she couldn't take me home. And so she went back to her bed in the hospital and thought about that a bit more and talked to every person possible she thought may help her not bring me home: She talked to her sister, she talked to her [general practitioner], she talked to her priest, she talked to her local politician, she talked to the doctors there. But she was pretty adamant that she wasn't going to bring me home. And I genuinely think that she was in a form of shock. ...

Eventually, she processed it a bit better and she was really worried about what impact bringing me home would have on my brothers and sisters. So, the quick story is they decided to have a family discussion and they sat down one Saturday morning and talked through all of my problems and whether I should come home. And my parents one by one asked my brothers and sisters, "Should we bring Robert home?" And one by one they all, thankfully, said yes. My sister Catherine, who was only 4 at the time, reckons the only reason she said yes was because everyone else said yes before her, so maybe peer pressure is a good thing.
On how he learned the story of his birth
The reason I know all of that was because one of the doctors at the time encouraged my mother to keep a diary. And she kept this lovely blue diary with beautiful handwriting in it and that was never hidden away from me. It would sit on the couch beside her, or it would be on her bedside table. ... And every now and then I'd ask mum to read me a bit from her book. And so she was really open and honest in that book about her feelings about me, and she was really open and honest with me from a very young age about her feelings. And I think I had a few times where I was a bit concerned and a bit worried and couldn't quite understand, but I think then it just clicked one day that it was like a movie that has some sad parts in the middle but has a happy ending. I was finding all of that out after knowing that my parents had decided to bring me home. And that kind of honesty and that openness was really important to me growing up and I think has really enabled me to be pretty open and honest about all of my feelings in the book.
On how he explained his deformities to other kids growing up
Normally with one quick and short answer. So, you know, kids would ask me, "Why have you got bumps on your head?" or "Why have you got a squished nose?" or "Why don't you have any legs?" And I would simply say, "I was born that way." And probably nine times out of 10, the questions wouldn't go much further than that. ... That satisfied them, and it certainly satisfied me.
On deciding not to have a major reconstructive surgery that would diminish the appearance of the birth defects
I made that decision when I was 14. By then, I'd had 24 different operations, some quite small and some very, very large. And my parents ... they said, "Well, Robert, you're almost an adult so you get to choose." Pretty tough. Big choice for a dumb 14-year-old boy, too, I can tell you. ...

We ended up talking about some of the potential side effects of the operation, and because they were moving my eyes a little bit closer again, there was a chance - and a not insignificant chance - that I might go blind. And my brother, when he heard that, piped up and said, "Well, what use is it looking pretty if he can't even see himself?" So right then and there I decided no, I'm not going to have this operation.

But certainly, you know, when you ask a girl out and she says no, and you're thinking how terribly lonely life's going to be when you're 16 years old, you know, you have moments where you kick yourself and think, "I should have had that operation," or "Maybe I can still have it."
On going against his doctors' advice when he decided to opt out of the surgery
I have genuine love and affection for the massive changes all of the doctors and nurses who worked on me made to my life. But doctors are tinkerers. They're always in the back shed thinking, "If we moved that nose up half an inch, it'd look so much better." But I think, you know, thinking about it now, I'm never going to look like Brad Pitt or George Clooney, so I think I should just stick with my rather distinctive face and go from there.

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'Ugly': A Memoir Of Childhood, Deformity And Learning To Love A Distinctive Face

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Robert Hoge's new memoir is about his childhood - his first day of school, making friends and learning to ride a bike. But it's also about getting called "cripple," having multiple reconstructive surgeries and teaching himself how to play sports with two artificial limbs.

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This article from Nat Geo Kids will give you a lot of useful info about Australia. Read for some background about the setting of the book.

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FAST FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: Commonwealth of Australia

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary democracy; Commonwealth realm

CAPITAL: Canberra

POPULATION: 22,507,617

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English

MONEY: Australian dollar

AREA: 2,969,906 square miles (7,692,024 square kilometers)

MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Great Dividing Range, Macdonnell Ranges

MAJOR RIVERS: Murray-Darling, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan

GEOGRAPHY

Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent. It is one of the largest countries on Earth. Although it is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia is desert.

Most Australian cities and farms are located in the southwest and southeast, where the climate is more comfortable. There are dense rain forests in the northeast. The famous outback (remote rural areas) contains the country's largest deserts, where there are scorching temperatures, little water, and almost no vegetation.

Running around the eastern and southeastern edge of Australia is the Great Dividing Range. This 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) stretch of mountain sends water down into Australia's most important rivers and the Great Artesian Basin, the largest groundwater source in the world.

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Australia is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations. Nearly a quarter of the people who live in Australia were born in other countries. They come from the United Kingdom and other European countries, but also from China, Vietnam, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Australia's warm, sunny climate and abundance of open spaces gives the population a love of the outdoors. The people are also passionate about sports, including swimming, surfing, sailing, tennis, soccer, cricket, rugby, and their own invention, Australian rules football.

NATURE

Australia's ecosystem is an unusual one because of its remote location. As a result, there are many animal species that occur here and nowhere else in the world, such as the platypus, kangaroo, echidna, and koala. Australia has 516 national parks to protect its unique plants and animals.

One of Australia's most amazing sites rises like an enormous whale's back from a flat red-soil desert called the Red Center. This site is called Uluru, and it is a sacred natural formation at the heart of the country. Rising 1,100 feet (335 meters) tall, it is the largest rock in the world!

Australia is home to many of the deadliest species of animals on the planet. There are 36 species of poisonous funnel-web spiders in eastern Australia. There are also 20 types of venomous snakes, including the taipan, which attacks without warning and bites repeatedly, killing its victim in minutes.

There are several types of rain forests in Australia. Tropical rain forests, mainly found in the northeast, are the richest in plant and animal species. Subtropical rain forests are found near the mid-eastern coast, and broadleaf rain forests grow in the southeast and on the island of Tasmania.

Australian Dollar

Photograph by Showface, Dreamstime

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

As a commonwealth of the United Kingdom, Australia's head of state is the British monarch. Many Australians think the country should end its ties to Britain and become a republic. In a vote in 1999, Australians decided against separating from the UK, but the vote was close, and the debate continues.

Australia is an important exporter of agricultural goods like wool, wheat, beef, fruit, and wine. The country is also rich in minerals and metals and is the world's fourth largest producer of gold.

HISTORY

Aboriginal people arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago. They may have traveled from Asia across land bridges that were exposed when sea levels were lower. The hardy Aborigines have learned to live in the harsh conditions of the outback.

Dutch explorers first landed in Australia in 1606, and the British began to settle there in 1788. Many settlers were criminals sent to live in Australia as punishment. For a short time, the newcomers lived peacefully with the Aboriginal people. But soon, fighting broke out over who owned the land.

In 1851, gold was discovered in Australia. A rush to find riches brought thousands of new immigrants, and by 1859, six separate colonies existed. In 1901, these colonies joined to form a British commonwealth.

Check out the interactive map and discover more countries.

Get Facts, Photos, and videos.

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Australia Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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FAST FACTS OFFICIAL NAME: Commonwealth of Australia FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary democracy; Commonwealth realm CAPITAL: Canberra POPULATION: 22,507,617 OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English MONEY: Australian dollar AREA: 2,969,906 square miles (7,692,024 square kilometers) MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Great Dividing Range, Macdonnell Ranges MAJOR RIVERS: Murray-Darling, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan GEOGRAPHY Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent.

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Australia Facts - Cool, Fun Facts about Down Under

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Australia Facts, Amazing Australian Animals - Full Nat Geo Documentary

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Definition

Memoirs are factual stories about someone's life. 'Memoir' is from the French word mémoire, which means 'reminiscence' or 'memory.' They are a part of the nonfiction literary genre and are usually told in the first person. We might expect the information the author provides in a memoir to be factual, but that doesn't mean the memoirist won't occasionally embellish the truth to tell a more interesting story.

Memoirs vs. Autobiographies

Memoirs are typically classified as a subgenre of the autobiography. The main difference is that a memoir is more focused. An autobiography typically spans a person's entire life and contains intricate details like the writer's family history and childhood. A memoir, on the other hand, is much more centralized. It's a story about a time in someone's life or a major event that occurred, or maybe it focuses on a special place that the writer liked to visit during the summer.

Lou Willet Stanek describes the difference between writing a memoir and an autobiography in her book, Writing Your Life.

'If you were to write an autobiography, you would have to spend a lot of time at the courthouse, looking up the date your great-grandfather was born, what year your father bought the house on Elm Street. The research for a memoir can be done in an easy chair. Close your eyes and try to recapture the moment you bought your first car, learned you were pregnant, met the President or wobbled down the street on a two-wheeler.'

Stories to Tell

Memoirs have been around for a long time. People were always interested in revealing snapshots of their life from their own perspective. We can even trace the memoir back to ancient times. Julius Caesar wrote his first known memoir, Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, around 50 BCE. It depicted his firsthand experiences of the epic battles he fought during the Gallic Wars.

Memoirs remain a popular literary genre today. Rock stars want to tell their fans all about their hard-partying days on the road. Celebrities write tell-alls about the harsh side of show business. Soldiers reveal their war experiences, drug addicts describe the ups and downs of seeking a sober life, and mentally ill people write about their struggles to find clarity. There are a million different personal stories to tell and the memoir provides a reader a window into another person's life.

Popular Examples

Real life can be just as interesting as fiction. Here are a few critically acclaimed memoirs from the 20th century that we'll discuss:

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

A Moveable Feast By Ernest Hemingway (1964)

Ernest Hemingway knew how to have a good time. He was a celebrity in an era when American authors were treated like movie stars. A Moveable Feast was published in 1964, after Hemingway's death. The memoir features Hemingway's collection of tales about his days living as an expatriate writer in Paris during the 1920s, before he became famous.

As the young man depicted in this 1923 passport photo, Hemingway hung around with a few other popular writers you may have heard of: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein, to name a few.

Running with Scissors: A Memoir By Augusten Burroughs

Augusten Burroughs' mother gave her 12-year-old son away to her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who doled out prescription medicine like candy. Burroughs' new, extremely odd family lived in a run-down dirty Victorian house, along with a few of the psychiatrist's patients and other adopted kids.

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what is a memoir? - definition & examples - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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What Is a Memoir? - Definition & Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Memoirs are factual stories about someone's life. 'Memoir' is from the French word mémoire , which means 'reminiscence' or 'memory.' They are a part of the nonfiction literary genre and are usually told in the first person.

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Go behind the scenes at a factory that makes top-of-the-line artificial legs that contain hydraulics, brakes, microchips, and miniature motors.

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This video tells you a little bit about what is popular in the 70's - TV , fashion, news etc.

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This article lists the songs and the artists that were popular in the 70's.

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Pop music reflects social issues in the 1970s and paves the way for new genres of music in the '80s and beyond.

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A popular song from the 70's

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This article gives a simple and lear explanation about prosthetic limbs. Scroll down the article for links to great videos.

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by Chris Woodford. Last updated: May 14, 2020.

Have you ever met anyone who has an artificial limb? Chances are you have-without even knowing it. Modern prostheses (as artificial limbs are properly known) work so effectively and look so convincing that you wouldn't even know someone was wearing one. People with prosthetic legs can often climb stairs, walk, swim, and run as well as though they were using natural limbs, while prosthetic arms and hands have advanced to the point where they give individual control of all five fingers. You might think they're boring or mundane, but prosthetic limbs are among the world's truly great inventions: by boosting independence they boost optimism and both these things dramatically improve people's lives. Let's take a closer look at how these amazing devices work!

Photo: Anything you can do (part 1): Prosthetic limbs help to give people back their independence and challenge stereotypes of "disability." Photo by Greg Mitchell courtesy of US Navy.

What is a prosthesis?

Photo: Anything you can do (part 2): Military amputees learn to surf at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. Photo by Jake Berenguer courtesy of US Navy.

A prosthesis (also called a prosthetic limb, artificial limb, or limb "replacement"-though natural limbs are irreplaceable) is an artificially made substitute for a limb lost through a congenital defect (present at birth), accident, illness, or wartime injury. A type of prosthesis called a cosmesis is designed to be purely cosmetic and has little or no function; artificial hands often fall into this category. Other prostheses are highly functional and have little or no cosmetic disguise; artificial legs, designed to be covered by pants (trousers), are sometimes little more than metal rods and wires.

Types of prosthesis

In theory, any part of the body-from your ear or nose to your finger or toe-could be replaced by a prosthesis. In practice, there are four common types of prosthetic limb, which replace either a partial or complete loss of an arm or leg:

Below the knee (BK, transtibial): An prosthetic lower leg attached to an intact upper leg.

Above the knee (AK, transfemoral): A prosthetic lower and upper leg, including a prosthetic knee.

Below the elbow (BE, transradial): A prosthetic forearm.

Above the elbow (AE, transhumeral): A prosthetic lower and upper arm, including a prosthetic elbow.

Photo: A typical transfemoral prosthesis. The white part at the top is the socket: it fits snugly around the patient's residual limb. Photo by Greg Mitchell courtesy of US Navy.

How does a prosthesis work?

A prosthesis consists of a number of different parts. There's the prosthetic limb itself, the socket (the connection or "interface" between the prosthetic limb and the patient's body), the attachment mechanism, and the control system. Let's briefly look at these in turn.

The prosthetic limb

Photo: A pair of prosthetic racing "blades." Athletes who wear these use more conventional prostheses in everyday life. Photo by Sara Wood courtesy of US Army.

The construction of a prosthesis depends largely on the job it will have to do. While cosmetic hands are concerned purely with appearance, prosthetic legs are substitutes for a major structural part of someone's body and have to bear their entire weight. Typically, a prosthetic arm or leg is made from a strong and durable but lightweight material such as carbon fiber, covered with foam padding (for comfort) or flesh-colored plastic. The weight of prosthetic limbs is a very important factor. We don't notice how much our limbs weigh because they feel so natural and seem to move themselves. But if you consider that your two legs amount to 30-40 percent of your total body weight, and your two arms about 10 percent, you can see why prosthetic limbs need to be much lighter: you'd quickly get tired moving prosthetic limbs that weighed as much as natural ones.

The socket

Photo: The socket is the interface between a patient's residual limb and their prosthesis. Without a good socket, even the best prosthesis is going to be uncomfortable and unusable. Photo by Clay M. Whaley courtesy of US Navy.

The comfort and effectiveness of a prosthesis is largely governed by how well it fits onto the remaining part of the patient's own limb, which is called their residual limb (or sometimes, informally, the "stump"-a term some people understandably find offensive, though it is, nevertheless, widely used in the medical world). The connecting part of a prosthesis is called the socket and it's carefully molded around a plaster cast taken from the residual limb. The fit of a socket has to be precise or the new limb may damage the residual one, causing discomfort or tissue damage and perhaps even making it impossible to wear the prosthesis for a time. A patient's residual limb is likely to change shape and size over months and years so new sockets will be needed from time to time. More precisely fitting sockets can now be made by scanning a patient's residual limb with lasers and cutting-edge techniques such as 3D printing are also now being used. However sockets are produced, it's important for them be custom-made and expertly fitted by an experienced prosthetist.

The attachment mechanism

Photo: This simple transradial (below-the-elbow) prosthetic arm attaches with a socket, straps, and a shoulder harness. Note the relatively crude "hand," which has been specifically designed to help the man do his job. Photo by courtesy of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA-MSFC).

A well-fitting prosthesis is usually secured to a residual limb by what's called a suspension system (which might be an elastic sleeve, a suction socket, or old-fashioned straps and harnesses). A snug, secure fitting is vital for comfort-and ensures the limb can be properly controlled. Often the socket is itself a part of the attachment: for example, a prosthetic leg socket may consist of a large hollow plastic casing into which the residual limb is inserted.

The control system

Photo: A prosthetist demonstrates a relatively simple prosthetic arm. Note the shoulder socket at the top (the light-colored plastic), the simple elbow joint, and the pincer-hand at the bottom controlled by cables running down from the shoulder. Photo by Greg Mitchell courtesy of US Navy.

Natural limbs are pulled back and forth by muscles stimulated by our brains; in much the same way, the simplest functional prostheses are operated by systems of cables that run through them, doing the job of the muscles. One common type of prosthetic hand is a pincer, sometimes worn inside a glove (for cosmetic reasons) that can be opened or closed by pulling cables attached to the opposite shoulder. Simple artificial legs work largely through gravity: the wearer learns to walk in them, through practice, by alternately swinging them into position and then balancing on them while they move their unimpaired leg in its turn. More sophisticated prostheses are electrically controlled and powered by rechargeable battery packs.

The most sophisticated (and expensive) prostheses are myoelectric. They use electrodes to sense muscular impulses in the residual limb (or elsewhere on the patient's body); electronic control systems detect those signals and amplify them to power electric motors that operate the prosthetic limb as though it were real. In other words, the patient thinks "I want to move my arm," their brain stimulates muscles in the residual arm, the electronic system commands the electric motors to move and the prosthetic limb shifts accordingly.

Photo: A much more sophisticated prosthetic arm and hand. This ultra-sophisticated i-limb™, made by Touch Bionics (now a part of Össur), has five working fingers that give good enough grip to pick up marbles. Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett courtesy of US Army.

Learning to live with a new limb

Technology is only part of the story, of course. Getting used to a brand new part of your body is a physical and psychological challenge involving a partnership between the patient and their prosthetist. This hugely important person works with you at every stage of the process, from choosing the best prosthesis for your needs; through the process of measuring, manufacture, and fitting; to helping you learn how to operate your new limb; and tackle new challenges such as taking up a sport or activity.

Find out more

On this website

Books

Articles

Bionic Hands Let Amputees Feel and Grip by Emily Waltz. IEEE Spectrum, February 22, 2019. "Once more with feeling" is the guiding principle behind the latest prosthetic hands that give their users a sense of feeling and touch.

AI Helps Amputees Walk With a Robotic Knee by Jeremy Hsu. IEEE Spectrum, January 25, 2019. You have to learn to use a prosthetic limb-and cutting-edge prosthetics, equipped with AI learning algorithms, can now make that process a whole lot easier.

'Skywalker' Prosthetic Hand Uses Ultrasound for Finger-Level Control by Evan Ackerman. IEEE Spectrum, December 12, 2017. Ultrasound control takes bionic hands to the next level.

Creating a Prosthetic Hand That Can Feel by Dustin Tyler. IEEE Spectrum, April 28, 2016. Once more with feeling? Adding in sensation gives people better control of their prosthetic limbs.

Prosthetic Limbs, Controlled by Thought: The New York Times, May 20, 2015. Future prosthetics will be automatically controlled by our brains.

Hand of a Superhero: 3D Printing Prosthetic Hands That Are Anything but Ordinary by Jacqueline Mroz, The New York Times, February 16, 2015. Prosthetic hands can be fantastically expensive, but 3D printing technology is making them much more affordable.

Pioneering prosthetics by GrrlScientist, The Guardian. 13 July 2011. An article and video about Professor Gordon Blunn, from University College London's Centre for Bio-Medical Engineering.

Bionic hand for 'elective amputation' patient: by Neil Bowdler, BBC News, 18 May 2011. Bionic hands are now so technologically advanced that some patients are opting to have their defective real hands amputated and replaced.

Making artificial limbs for amputees by Jane Elliott. BBC News, 15 January 2010. The fascinating and rewarding life of a prosthetist..

Injured marine's guide to new limbs: BBC News, 10 August 2009. A great video featuring British marine Mark Ormrod, who lost an arm and both legs in 2007.

Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" Prosthesis Readies for Clinical Trials by Sarah Adee. IEEE Spectrum, February 1, 2008. How the Segway inventor turned his talents to prosthetic research.

Videos

Organizations offering support and advice

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Prosthetics: A simple introduction to artificial limbs

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by Chris Woodford. Last updated: May 14, 2020. Have you ever met anyone who has an artificial limb? Chances are you have-without even knowing it. Modern prostheses (as artificial limbs are properly known) work so effectively and look so convincing that you wouldn't even know someone was wearing one.

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This article published by Stanford University outlines the various facial deformities and its causes and manifestations.
https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=overview-of-craniofacial-anomalies-90-P01830

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Detailed information on craniofacial anomalies, including cleft lip, cleft palate, craniosynostosis, hemifacial microsomia, vascular malformation, hemangioma, and deformational plagiocephaly

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Wonder - Another book about a boy with facial deformities

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Wonder - Another book about a boy with facial deformities

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You may have read this book in 5th grade.