I have been thinking recently about how disability is portrayed in children's books. This is partly because of a fascinating project I was involved in at the Foundling Museum, where I was invited to write from the perspective of a disabled child - read more here. I also went on a course about working with hearing or vision-impaired children which was truly "eye-opening" - never more so than when I was attempting various tasks with tunnel vision spectacles. All of which made me think about how disabled characters were portrayed in the books I read as a child. That involved a certain amount of head-scratching - after all as a reader you don't tend to categorise books as "including disability" (unless perhaps you are a drawing up one of those educational lists for schools). Instead you think of "books I loved" or "books that made me laugh"or "magical books" or "adventure stories". So it was intriguing to search around on my mental bookshelf from a new perspective.
Three of them jumped out at me. All books I read over and over again growing up, and all books from very different genres.
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff
Set in the Bronze Age, this is the story of Drem, a boy whose right arm is useless, and who therefore faces the challenge of how he can become a full member of his tribe, when manhood initiation requires the slaying of a wolf. It is an exciting, but also very literary, densely descriptive read. The theme of "belonging" goes beyond disability to the issues of tribal identity and birthright.
What I never realised as a child was that Rosemary Sutcliff was herself severely disabled by a form of juvenile arthritis. She knew at first hand some of the struggles involved in being perceived as "different" and inevitably dependent on other people, and she writes insightfully and amusingly about some of her experiences here. Her childhood illnesses may well have contributed to the development of her rich imagination - which resulted in so many classic novels, the most famous of which, Eagle of the Ninth, has recently been made into a film.
Jill's Gymkhana by Ruby Ferguson
This is the first of the "Jill" books - one of the best-loved series of girls' pony stories, narrated by the witty and independent-minded Jill Crewe. This is exactly the kind of "series fiction" that is usually looked down upon by critics, and always ignored when it comes to prizes. But the Jill books are truly wonderful, often subversive and non-stereotypical, and so it is no surprise that Jill's riding teacher should be a wheelchair user, Martin Lowell.
Jill can't affor
d riding lessons so it is her good luck that she bumps into Martin, formerly an expert rider who has been injured in a crash. At first she does not even notice he is in a wheelchair. Martin
new posts in all blogs
.jpg?picon=1806)
By: Emma Barnes,
on 4/27/2011
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: series fiction, Ruby Ferguson, disability, Rosemary Sutcliff, Emma Barnes, What Katy Did, Add a tag
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Ruby Ferguson, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 1 of 1
By: Emma Barnes,
on 4/27/2011
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: series fiction, Ruby Ferguson, disability, Rosemary Sutcliff, Emma Barnes, What Katy Did, Add a tag
10 Comments on Three Great Books with Disabled Charcters - Emma Barnes, last added: 4/28/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
Very useful post - thanks! And the You-tube film was fascinating.
Yes, great post - and thank you for reminding me of the wonderful 'Jill' stories. Even as a pony-adoring child I recognised them as a cut above the rest, and revisiting them as an adult confirmed this. I'm planning a series of books featuring children with disabilities and the idea of putting them in supporting roles is a good one.
I too loved the Jill books: another pony story which I remember with great affection and also featuring disability was written by one of the Pullein-Thompson sisters - Josephine I think - and called Showjumping Secret. The lead character was recovering from polio and riding was suggested as a form of physio - a good read, and nice that it pointed out the success of a disabled Olympic rider. Even more interesting considering this is a genre normally read by girls, was the fact that the lead character was a boy!
I read the Jill books too, but can't honestly say I remember anything about them, except that they were about horses!
I wrote a book called The Willow Man, which was about three children who are 'stuck' for different reasons - physical, emotional and social. One of them is Sophie, who has had a stroke and is having to learn to walk again. That bit of it was based on my daughter's experience - she had a stroke when she was seven.
What you say about Rosemary Sutcliffe's book reminded me of something my daughter's occupational therapist used to tell her. There is a strong tendency to ignore the hand that doesn't work very well, and just concentrate on the one that dies work; the OT used to tell us that this dates from an instinct for survival; if one hand didn't work, that's exactly what you'd do: tuck it away and compensate by optimising use in the hand that did work. Then you'd have a better chance of surviving.
Thanks for your thoughts on these books, Emma, especially as I'm strugging with the portrayal of one of my current characters.
The film is invaluable - and good to see such a link up on ABBA. Good post.
Nice to know books featuring disability coming more to the fore.
Thanks everyone. I saw the video link after it was posted to other SAS writers by Jane Stemp - who has some disabilities herself and has written about disabled characters in her books Secret Songs and Waterbound. So thank you Jane. I am definitely going to try and get hold of those, as well as yours Sue.
Nice to hear from other "Jill" fans too. Loved those books!
I'm writing about a character at the moment who has OCD and some associated mental/learning issues. Apart from Curious Incident I'm not really aware of a lot of books that deal with non-physical problems. In my story, the character's 'disability' becomes an asset.
Since posting I have remembered another wonderful character, Professor Muffett in Anne Fine's delightful comedy "The Summer House Loon". He's the dad of the main character, and a professional historian who happens to be blind. His daughter's mild feelings of guilt when she has to read aloud papers on the Early Sardinian Trae Routes (and who can blame her?) are very sensitively done.
I'm glad I'm not the only one slightly disturbed by What Katy Did. You might be interested to know that there are free versions of several other Katy books available for the Kindle. (What Katy Did Next; What Katy Did at School)