While compiling me text set, I came across a lot of great pieces of children's literature. Even though I couldn't include all these books, I think they are certainly worth mentioning. The focus topic of my text set is disability. All of my chosen books feature Deaf or Hard of Hearing characters, but the following list includes other disabilities such as blindness, mobility impairments and autism. I included a brief summary of some of my favorites!
Looking Out for Sarah by Glenna Lang
This is a great book about a woman who is blind and her guide dog. The illustrations are sophisticated, yet appealing and the story is realistic and heartwarming. The book follows a day in the life of Perry, Sarah's guide dog. Perry and Sarah are seen about town doing errands, visiting schools and meeting friends. There is a short flash back section that tells the story of the duo walking from Boston to New York on foot. Based on the real-life Sarah and Perry, readers will love the charm of this book.
Ian's Walk: A Story About Autism by Laurie Lears
Ben Has Something to Say: A Story About Stuttering by Laurie Lears
Ballerina Dreams by Lauren Thompson
Ballerina Dreams is the true story of five little girls who shared the dream of being beautiful ballerinas. Fulfilling their dream would take some extra work since they all have cerebral palsy or other physical disabilities that limit their mobility. Their dedicated teacher worked with the girls to develop and strengthen their muscles so they too could dance on stage. Each little girl has a special helper who assists her with movement. This inspiring story is beautifully illustrated with photographs of the girls rehearsing and them performing as the dancers they always dreamed about.
Moses Goes to a Concert by Isaac Millman
Moses Goes to the Circus by Isaac Millman
Isaac Millman's Moses series features a young deaf boy who attends a special school where all his classmates are also deaf. All the children and their teacher use American Sign Language, ASL, to communicate. Illustrated ASL accompanies the English text and gives the reader some background information about the language. Moses and his classmates experience many of the same things their hearing peers do, but sometimes in a different way. I really like the integration of the two languages and the dynamic character of Moses.
Dad and Me in the Morning by Patricia Lakin
The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs
The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs, tells the story of Lee, a jazz pianist who is loosing his hearing. After he is cut from his band, Lee looks for other ways to experience the music he loves. He attends a Deaf school where he learns sign language and befriends a fellow music lover. Together, the two of them start a band of Deaf musicians who use their hands to express their own version of jazz.
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I also found many of these books as I was exploring literature for my text set. I am also concentrating on persons with disabilities but I decided not to limit my search to one specific disability. One thing that surprised me was the number of books there are about persons with disbailities. I was finding book lists after book lists that depicited characters with disabilites. Although some of the books were repeats there was still a great number to choose from. I wasnt expecting this because from the early reseach I did and also with our discussions in class there is not much written on the subject of disabilities in the large scheme of children's literature which I find quite sad. The books that I found had such great stories behind them and were very interesting as well as enlightening. I can say however that it was difficult to find books that were written by insider authors and I am curious to potentially read some of the books I ran across by outsider authors and look for differences between the depictions of the characters. I hate to assume that books written about persons with disabilities by outside authors would reinforce many of the sterotypes that in class we continue to attack, but I cannot shake the feeling. I could see the books making the readers feel sorry for the character or over glorify them for carrying out every day activities. I feel books like this take away from the purpose of dissability representation within diverse literature and are not a positive representation. I am not saying that every book would be like this but it is what I could potentially expect to find. I understand in a way I may be making a generalization here but I feel that in terms of books depicting characters with disabilities the author has to know something about the disability and have substantial interation with a person with a dissability in order to capture the character as a whole and in a person first way. I dont think I would be able to write a book about a character with a disability even though I am familiar with what to look for in terms of good representation. There is such a fine line sometimes between accurately depicting characters with disabilities and reinforcing stereotypes, that research is definately needed before authoring a book. Throughout our literature class I have been leaning towards insiders in the insider vs. outsider debate and I think this is one area that reaffirms my stance in most cases. I would be interested to see what others though on this topic.
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