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By:
Cynthia Leitich Smith,
on 9/7/2016
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By
Cynthia Leitich Smithfor
CynsationsOver the summer, the children's-YA book community has continued discussing diversity, decolonization, authenticity and representation both throughout the body of literature and the industry. Here are highlights; look for more in quickly upcoming, additional update posts.
Mirrors? Windows? How about Prisms? from Uma Krishnaswami. Peek: "...cultural content in children’s books needs to be woven into the story so the authors intention is not stamped all over it." See also Uma on
Tolstoy Was Not Writing for Me.
Twelve Fundamentals of Writing The "Other" and The Self by
Daniel Jose Older from Buzzfeed Books. Peek: "Every character has a relationship to power. This includes institutional, interpersonal, historical, cultural. It plays out in the micro-aggressions and hate crimes, sex, body image, life-changing decisions, everyday annoyances and the depth of historical community trauma."
Diversity in Book Publishing Isn't Just About Writers -- Marketing Matters, Too by Jean Ho from NPR. Peek: "For past projects, she has researched segmented audiences ranging from retired African-American women's books clubs, South Asian soccer organizations, Trinidadian-interest media outlets both stateside and abroad, to extracurricular programs geared toward South Bronx teens."
Looking Back: Diversity in Board Books by Joanna Marple from We Need Diverse Books. Peek: "...that children as young as six months can judge others by the color of their skin. Even if a caregiver never mentions race, children may well use skin color on their own, along with other differences, to judge themselves and others."
Drilling Down on Diversity in Picture Books from CCBlogC. Peek: "We’re keeping track of the things people want to know. Just how many picture books have animal, rather than human, characters? How many books about African American characters are historical? How many feature LGBTQ families? Or Muslims? Or people with disabilities? How many are by first-time authors or illustrators?"
Children's Books and the Color of Characters by
Kwame Alexander from The New York Times. Peek: "They all believe I am writing about them. Why is this so much harder for the grown-ups? Is race the only lens through which we can read the world?"
On White Fragility in Young Adult Literature by
Justine Larbalestier from Reading While White. Peek: "...we white authors can support Indigenous authors and Authors of Color by reading their books, recommending their books, blurbing their books, and recommending them to our agents. When we're invited to conferences, or festivals, or to be in anthologies, make sure they're not majority white."
When Defending Your Writing Becomes Defending Yourself by Matthew Salesses from NPR. Peek: "Here is a not uncommon experience. Writer
Emily X.R. Pan was told by the white writers in her workshop that the racism in her story could never happen — though every incident had happened to her."
There Is No Secret to Writing About People Who Don't Look Like You: The Importance of Empathy as Craft by Brandon Taylor from LitHub. Peek: "The best writing, the writing most alive with possibilities, is the writing that at once familiarizes and estranges; it’s writing that divorces us from our same-old contexts and shifts our thinking about ourselves and the world around us."
How Canada Publishes So Much Diverse Children's Literature by Ken Setterington from School Library Journal. Peek: "Considering that the entire Canadian market is about the size of the market in California alone (roughly 36 million), publishers must rely on sales outside of the country."
Biracial, Bicultural Roundtable (
Part One,
Part Two) by Cynthia Leitich Smith from We Need Diverse Books. Peek: "According to a 2015 Pew study, 6.9 percent of the U.S. population is biracial. According to the 2010 Census, between 2000 and 2010, the number of people identifying themselves with more than one race rose from 6.8 million to 9 million."
Cynsational Screening Room Related Links
By: Amelia Carruthers,
on 1/22/2016
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From experiments with steroids, to placebos, and genome-wide studies, we take a look back at over two centuries of rheumatology studies. Rheumatology involves the study of any disorders of the joints, muscles, and ligaments – including such debilitating conditions as rheumatism and arthritis.
The post Landmarks in the study of rheumatology appeared first on OUPblog.
By:
[email protected],
on 11/24/2015
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Meet James Moloney, author of The Beauty is in the Walking (Angus&Robertson, HarperCollins) James Moloney is a statesman in the world of Australian YA and children’s books. The hilarious Black Taxi and Kill the Possum for YA and Dougy, Swashbuckler and Buzzard Breath and Brains for children are among my favourites of his books. I store his […]
By: JOANNA MARPLE,
on 4/13/2015
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I read and review a lot of books each year, and this one stands out for me as a story that changed me. I am telling you, it is a must read. If it is on your TBR list, shuffle … Continue reading →
Born with a severely clubbed foot, Ada Smith, 10, has been kept imprisoned and abused by her Mam in a one room flat her whole life. Mam sees her foot as a mark of shame and humiliation, and so Ada never learned to walk, scooting around on her bum as she waits on Mam and younger brother Jamie, 6. Then one day, Ada decides to learn to walk, keeping at it despite the pain and blood.
Then, when war comes to England, Ada is told that Jamie will be evacuated, and she will remain in the flat - bombs or no. But Mam doesn't know Ada's secret and when evacuation day arrives, she and Jamie take off for the train station together. Eventually arriving at a small countryside village, all the children are selected by residents except Ada and Jamie, who are taken to the home of Susan Smith (no relation) and left in her care.
But Susan is depressed, mourning the death of her friend (though clearly more than friend), Becky. The two women had lived there together for years and Susan had inherited the property. The last thing she wanted now were two children to take care of. And yet, she does. She feeds Ada and Jamie, buys them new clothes and shoes to replace the dirty, raggy things they arrived in, and allows them to find their own way through a certain amount of benign neglect.
And Susan has a pony named Butter that Ada determines to learn how to ride and care for. Soon, she is riding all over the village and surrounding area. Susan has also taken Ada to a doctor about her foot, and she has been given crutches to help her walk. But when Jamie begins school, Ada refuses to go not wanting to admit she can't read or do simple math. Eventually Susan figures it out and offers to teach her at home - an offer not very welcomed by Ada. But why not?
Ada and Susan are two people carrying around a lot of physical and emotional baggage, thrown together by a war they don't really feel connected to and which at first doesn't feel quite as real as the personal war they are waging with themselves. But gradually, they forge relationships with each other and begin to feel like a family. And then Mam shows up and takes the Ada and Jamie back to London, despite the bombing and Ada is forced to scoot around on her bum once again.
Now that they have seen another side of life, is it over for Ada, Jamie and even Susan?
What a powerful story
The War That Saved My Life is. It is everything that makes historical fiction so wonderfully satisfying. There is lots of historical detail about London and the countryside in those early war days, including the rescue of British soldiers from Dunkirk (Susan's house is on coastal Kent, the closest point in England to Dunkirk).
I thought that Susan and Ada were drawn well, with lots of depth to their personalities, but not Jamie so much. He really felt like just a secondary character, mostly there for contrast and to move the story along in a believable way. The shame Mam felt over Ada's foot is quite palpable, but also seemed to empower her with the ability to abuse her daughter, making her plain scary, though a rather one dimensional character at the same time.
One of the things I found interesting is that in the beginning Ada, the child, is such a strong, determined character, while Susan, the adult, was kind of weak and irresolute. And yet, they have things to teach each other. And to her credit, Bradley doesn't actually come out and directly let the reader know that Susan and Becky were partners, but its clearly there.
If your young readers loved
Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian, they are sure to love
The War That Saved My Life. If they haven't discovered
Good Night, Mr. Tom yet, perhaps it's time to introduce them to both of these fine books.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an ARC eceived from the publisher
By:
vschneider46,
on 2/2/2015
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In part 1 of this post, I spoke about my experience teaching in a nonverbal autistic classroom and its most meaningful takeaways. Part 2 explores respectful, useful resources for people on the autism spectrum, their family members, and educators.
What is autism?:
For people on the autism spectrum:
For families of people with ASD:
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Get involved:
Books with characters with disabilities:
Do you have any recommend resources, organizations, or websites that you would like to share with us? Let us know in the comments!
Veronica has a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
By: JOANNA MARPLE,
on 1/5/2015
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On January 1st, An Unconventional Librarian, an educational, book-loving blogger whom I follow, posted the following challenge, which I love and have been promoting over the inter-webs. I thought it would be fun to take the challenge myself and blog … Continue reading →
It's January 1950 and for most people, WWII has been over for five years. But not in the Howard household in Tacoma, Washington. It was only fours years ago that Annie Leigh's father, who had been MIA, returned from the war, and spent time in a convalescent hospital learning to adjust to his blindness. Now, he's home, but is starting to withdraw more and more, refusing any more help with his blindness, unlike Uncle Billy, who had also come home from the war with PTSD, and had gotten help for it. Now, the Howard Brothers are planing on starting a carpentry business together - one that won't require Annie's father to leave home.
On top of that, her mother, who seems to be extremely most self-absorbed and domineering, has started her own beauty salon, a long time dream finally realized, but a bone of contention between her and her husband. The family needs the money the salon will bring in, but it takes up a lot of her time, or maybe, Annie speculates, what takes up her mother's time is really the florist, Mr. Larry Capaldi, whose shop is downstairs from the salon and who frequently picks Mrs. Howard up and drops her off.
Into all this come Jon and Elizabeth VanderVelde, refugee twins from Holland who have come to Tacoma to live with their Aunt Dee and Uncle Hendrick. They live on the estate of a wealthy family, Aunt Dee is the cook and housekeeper and Uncle Henrick is their driver. Jon and Elizabeth immediately become friends with Annie Leigh, but they are also carrying their own emotional baggage, especially Jon. The twins spent the war living under Nazi occupation, and witnessed the terrible killing of their parents, to which Jon responded in ways that left him with his own nightmares and PTSD.
Luckily for Annie, her beloved Grandma Howard from Walla Walla comes for an extended stay and can offer Annie some support, advice and stability when needed. Meanwhile, Annie gets to know Jon better, and the two find they are attracted to each other, despite his black moods. But after he surprises her by telling her the truth about what happened on his family's farm towards the end of the war. Annie begins to question her feelings for Jon. But, Annie's biggest surprise come when her mother announces that she is pregnant, and Annie can't help but wonder who the real father is.
Yes, this coming of age story is packed with problems that Annie fears might collapse her world. But in the process of seeking solutions, Annie learns to appreciate what those who were directly involved in the war experienced. And in her attempt to find solutions and make everyone's world better again, she must learn to sometimes step back and let things unfold without her help.
A Less Than Perfect Peace has some nice elements to it and creates a very realistic sense of place and time, giving the reader an interesting window into the beginning of the Cold War, which is also a good metaphor for what was going on in the Howard family at the time. At times the story did drag, and it seemed like there were just too many different story threads, but it all works out in the end and it does mimic how real life happens.
When my mother suddenly lost the sight in one of her eyes, I saw how truly panicked she was about it, and the idea of losing sight in both eyes was a really scary thought for her. I could understand Mr. Howard's desire to stay in the safe confines of his home, where he knew his way around, and to be so resistant to admitting to himself that he is blind and therefore handicapped, even when there were programs and guide dogs to help him maneuver the world again. His character shows what a paralyzing emotion fear can sometimes be.
I should mention that this is a sequel to
Annie's War, which I haven't read yet, but enough background information is given by narrator Annie Leigh in
A Less Than Perfect Peace so that it is a nice stand alone novel and a novel that will certainly resonate with many young readers especially those who are or have family members stuggling with PTSD.
This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was borrowed from a friend
This summer, I was asked by a parent whose child had attended our reading tutoring program in the spring, to work one-on-one with her daughter, a rising middle schooler with CHARGE syndrome. CHARGE syndrome involves a number of developmental and medical differences (see www.chargesyndrome.org to learn more), and for this particular child it means profound deafness in addition to other factors. Her signs could at times be challenging to understand, and it was not always clear when you asked her a question whether she understood the answer or whether she was repeating what you last said to her. So what was my approach in teaching reading with this student? Pull out all my favorite picture books, naturally.
When my undergraduate student who had been tutoring her in the previous semester pulled out The Red Book by Barbara Lehmann, she was at first confused and later delighted to find this rich story told entirely through pictures. Over the summer, in addition to many others, we have been reading a great deal of Mo Willems (the Knuffle Bunny books and the Elephant and Piggy books) and Jon Klassen (mostly of the hats-being-stolen-by-fish-and-rabbits genre). Halfway through Knuffle Bunny Too, she had the whole story figured out, excitedly signing to me, “Wrong rabbit, wrong rabbit!” The language and understanding that came through when presented with engaging literature was a delight to see.
We do more than read picture books, of course. We work on building vocabulary, we develop American Sign Language (ASL) skills and compare how concepts are conveyed through both languages, and we even examine word order through mixed-up sentences. But these lessons are always underpinned with marvelous books that are clever and engaging. It is through these books that her abilities come shining through. And although reading tutoring during the summer months would not be the favorite activity of most middle school students, her mother told me that she actually begins laughing and smiling as they approach my building. The joy of reading!
Has anyone out there worked with children with CHARGE syndrome or those with multiple disabilities? I would love to learn about strategies you have used to support their reading!
The post Engaging literature and students with CHARGE syndrome appeared first on The Horn Book.
I rarely talk about my disability here, because really, who wants to talk about that ugly word? It suggests that we CANNOT. Others have decided to label me “disabled,” not me. From the parking spaces I gladly pull into (who doesn’t want to be right by the front door?), to the forms I fill out, I’m reminded of this label constantly. I accept this label but this label doesn’t define me. It’s the last ingredient in the complex recipe that is me. It’s there, but it’s not important. My cake will rise without it. (Oh boy, that’s corny. But hey, that’s me.)
Me and my cane with the “Good Luck Cow” in Brandon, Vermont, May 2014.
Multiple Sclerosis hit me in late 2009, just as my career was catching fire (excuse the blatant allusion to Suzanne Collins). In fact, when I was being interviewed by literary agents, I was on an anti-anxiety medication that made my anxiety WORSE, although it took my doctors and me a few weeks to realize this. I took the medication before bed and then couldn’t even speak in the morning until it wore off, around 11am or so. That’s right, I was so full of worry that I could barely force my voice into a whisper. Yet an agent, excited about my submission, called me 90 minutes earlier than our agreed-upon noon conference call. I had to suck it up and somehow appear brilliant and enthusiastic. I don’t know how I made it through that call.
The year 2010 was a blur. I don’t remember most of it. I know I signed with my agent and received my first book deal for THE MONSTORE, but it barely registered. All I could think about was that I would never walk properly again, that I would never figure skate again, never play tennis again, never take family hiking vacations. I couldn’t even drive a car. I couldn’t pick my children up from school, which was only 2/10 of a mile from my home. I focused on the COULDN’Ts. There seemed to be an avalanche of them.
What finally pulled me out of my funk? Was it reaching the elusive goal of publication?
Sure, that helped. But this lifelong goal realized had little to do with my recovery.
Time did. And so often, this is not what people in crisis want to hear. They think there is some magical solution to get through the hard times. And sorry, but I don’t have one. I just had time. And the great thing about time is that EVERYONE has it. It’s available to anyone who’s going through a rough patch.
I had time to process what had happened to me. Time to understand how my body had changed. Time to make adjustments in my daily life. Time to realize that the inner core of ME hadn’t been altered. I was the same goofy, bookish, creative, foodie, writer and loving wife and mother. Albeit with a cane and a mobility scooter. Big freakin’ deal!
Time also made me realize how much time I had missed. I never wanted another “lost year” in my life. All that worrying didn’t solve anything. Worrying rarely does. It makes you miss out on the here and now. The present is so precious. I didn’t want to miss another second of it.
So I got back to being ME. I started writing again. I sold more manuscripts. I began teaching and speaking at conferences. The word “adapt” became my mantra. I learned that I COULD do all that I intended, just with preparation and adjustment.
I’m here to tell you all that you can indeed reach your goals. You’re in charge. If you encounter a roadblock, it is only a temporary one. You will find a way around it. It may take time, but try to see time as a gift rather than a burden. We authors know that it takes years to get published and years to see our books in print. We eventually learn to accept time, as time brings great things.
The only way you won’t reach your goals is by quitting. (Or by excessive worrying.) Envision success, not failure. Focus on the elements within your control, not those beyond it.
Go ahead, make a list. What can you control? What can you NOT control? Then rip the paper in half and throw away the “beyond” section. (There’s a reason I made that section black.)
Today I’m happier than I’ve ever been, even though I can only walk the length of my driveway before needing to sit.
So guess what? I sit.
And then I get up—time and time again.
.
Tara speaks to audiences big and small about overcoming disabilities big and small. Contact her at tarawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com for more information.
By: Tabitha Thompson,
on 5/9/2014
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Recently our blogger Yamile wrote about including diversity in our books for children. One of her great points was to make the character of ethnicity the hero or heroine rather than the sidekick.
I'd like to continue with that topic as I am currently working on a picture book to help young children understand how to approach people with physical disabilities.
There aren't a lot of books that include differently abled leads, but (UCW's own) Julie Daines' book, "Unraveled" offers young readers a heroine whose legs are crippled. Daines said that she wanted to provide a love story without the perfect princess-type heroine.
Frankly, I'm surprised there aren't more heroes and heroines with such issues. Not only does it increase understanding of diversity in readership, but in the most clinical of writing terms, it can be very useful to the drama of the story as it adds another layer of difficulty with which the character must contend.
Another tough, but useful, subject is long-term illness in children.
Lupus is a topic dear to my heart (in the interest of full disclosure, I am the board chair of the Lupus Foundation of America, Utah Chapter). And I get to interact with some of our youth who are dealing with this disease. They are bright, enthusiastic, and overburdened--trying to balance the regular social interactions and school with fatigue and other health-related complications.
Lupus causes flares and remissions of widely variable time frames--sometimes within the same day. This is difficult for a lot of adults to understand. But kids are often labeled by their peers as "fakers"; symptoms ebb and wane, affecting different parts of the body at different times, and fatigue is always lurking in the background.
So, while I add a rousing cheer to Yamile's great post and remind you, our UCW blog readers, to consider diversity of all kinds in your lead characters, allow me one latitude (I promise to only take the blog sideways ONCE this year):
Tomorrow is the Walk to End Lupus Now in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park.
I invite you to join us. Walk. People watch. And see some really heroic characters.
www.utahlupus.org
By: Nicola,
on 12/31/2012
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By Adam Ockelford
I spend around 12 hours a week – every week – sharing thoughts, feelings, new ideas, reminiscences and even jokes with some very special children who have extraordinary musical talents, and many of whom are severely autistic. I’m Professor of Music at the University of Roehampton, and the children come to see me in a large practice room in Southlands College where there are two pianos, so we don’t have to scrap over personal space. My pupils usually indicate what piece they would like us to play together, and they tell me when they’ve had enough. Sometimes, they tease me by seeming to suggest one thing when they mean another. We share many jokes and the occasional sad moment too.
But the children rarely say a word. They communicate everything through their playing. For them, music is a proxy language.
On Sunday mornings, at 10.00 a.m., I steel myself for Romy’s arrival. I know that the next two hours will be an exacting test of my musical mettle. Yet Romy, aged 11, has severe learning difficulties, and she doesn’t speak at all. She is musical to the core, though: she lives and breathes music – it is the very essence of her being. With her passion comes a high degree of particularity: Romy knows precisely which piece she wants me to play, at what tempo and in which key. And woe betide me if I get it wrong.
When we started working together, four years ago, mistakes and misunderstandings occurred all too frequently, since (as it turned out), there were very few pieces that Romy would tolerate: the theme from Für Elise (never the middle section), for example, the Habanera from Carmen, and some snippets from ‘Buckaroo Holiday’ (the first movement of Aaron Copland’s Rodeo). Romy’s acute neophobia meant that even one note of a different piece would evoke shrieks of fear-cum-anger, and the session could easily grow into an emotional conflagration.
So gradually, gradually, over weeks, then months, and then years, I introduced new pieces – sometimes, quite literally, at the rate of one note per session. On occasion, if things were difficult, I would even take a step back before trying to move on again the next time. And, imperceptibly at first, Romy’s fears started to melt away. The theme from Brahms’s Haydn Variations became something of an obsession, followed by the slow movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique sonata. Then it was Joplin’s The Entertainer, and Rocking All Over the World by Status Quo.
Over the four years, Romy’s jigsaw box of musical pieces – fragments ranging from just a few seconds to a minute or so in length – has filled up at an ever-increasing rate. Now it’s overflowing, and it’s difficult to keep up with Romy’s mercurial musical mind: mixing and matching ideas in our improvised sessions, and even changing melodies and harmonies so they mesh together, or to ensure that my contributions don’t!
As we play, new pictures in sound emerge and then retreat as a kaleidoscope of ideas whirls between us. Sometimes a single melody persists for 15 minutes, even half an hour. For Romy, no matter how often it is repeated, a fragment of music seems to stay fresh and vibrant. At other times, it sounds as though she is trying to play several pieces at the same time – she just can’t get them out quickly enough, and a veritable nest of earworms wriggle their way onto the piano keyboard. Vainly I attempt to herd them into a common direction of musical travel.
So here I am, sitting at the piano in Roehampton, on a Sunday morning in mid-November, waiting for Romy to join me (not to be there when she arrives is asking for trouble). I’m limbering up with a rather sedate rendition of the opening of Chopin’s Etude in C major, Op. 10, No. 1, when I hear her coming down the corridor, vocalising with increasing fervour. I feel the tension rising, and as her father pushes open the door, she breaks away from him, rushes over to the piano and, with a shriek and an extraordinarily agile sweep of her arm, elbows my right hand out of the way at the precise moment that I was going to hit the D an octave above middle C. She usurps this note to her own ends, ushering in her favourite Brahms-Haydn theme. Instantly, Romy smiles, relaxes and gives me the choice of moving out of the way or having my lap appropriated as an unwilling cushion on the piano stool. I choose the former, sliding to my left onto a chair that I’d placed earlier in readiness for the move that I knew I would have to make.
I join in the Brahms, and encourage her to use her left hand to add a bass line. She tolerates this up to the end of the first section of the theme, but in her mind she’s already moved on, and without a break in the sound, Romy steps onto the set of A Little Night Music, gently noodling around the introduction to Send in the Clowns. But it’s in the wrong key – G instead of E flat – which I know from experience means that she doesn’t really want us to go into the Sondheim classic, but instead wants me to play the first four bars (and only the first four bars) of Schumann’s Kleine Studie Op. 68, No. 14. Trying to perform the fifth bar would in any case be futile since Romy’s already started to play … now, is it I am Sailing or O Freedom. The opening ascent from D through E to G could signal either of those possibilities. Almost tentatively, Romy presses those three notes down and then looks at me and smiles, waiting, and knowing that whichever option I choose will be the wrong one. I just shake my head at her and plump for O Freedom, but sure enough Rod Stewart shoves the Spiritual out of the way before it has time to draw a second breath.
From there, Romy shifts up a gear to the Canon in D – or is it really Pachelbel’s masterpiece? With a deft flick of her little finger up to a high A, she seems to suggest that she wants Streets of London instead (which uses the same harmonies). I opt for Ralph McTell, but another flick, this time aimed partly at me as well as the keys, shows that Romy actually wants Beethoven’s Pathetique theme – but again, in the wrong key (D). Obediently I start to play, but Romy takes us almost immediately to A flat (the tonality that Beethoven originally intended). As soon as I’m there, though, Romy races back up the keyboard again, returning to Pachelbel’s domain. Before I’ve had time to catch up, though, she’s transformed the music once more; now we’re hearing the famous theme from Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
I pause to recover my thoughts, but Romy is impatiently waiting for me to begin the accompaniment. Two or three minutes into the session, and we’ve already touched on 12 pieces spanning 300 years of Western music and an emotional range to match.
Yet here is a girl who in everyday life is supposed to have no ‘theory of mind’ – the capacity to put yourself in other people’s shoes and think what they are thinking. Here is someone who is supposed to lack the ability to communicate. Here is someone who functions, apparently, at an 18-month level.
But I say here is a joyous musician who amazes all who hear her. Here is a girl in whom extreme ability and disability coexist in the most extraordinary way. Here is someone who can reach out through music and touch one’s emotions in a profound way.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Romy playing piano with musical savant Derek Paravicini and Adam Ockelford
I explore the science of how Romy and her peers are able to do what they do in my new book Applied Musicology, which uses a theory of how music makes sense to all of us to explore intentionality and influence in children who use little or no language. If music is important to us all, it is truly the lifeblood of many children with autism. Essential brain food.
Adam Ockelford is Professor of Music and Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton in London. He is the author of Applied Musicology: Using Zygonic Theory to Inform Music Education, Therapy, and Psychology Research (OUP, 2012).
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This week’s Inky Award shortlist review is all about The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams. As this title has already been reviewed here on Read Alert by CYL staffer Liz Kemp, today I’m going to give you something a little different… how to pitch The Reluctant Hallelujah to students:
The best way to pitch The Reluctant Hallelujah is to give away as little as possible. Character voices are optional. Dramatic pauses are not…
One afternoon Dodie’s (pronounced doe-dee) parents don’t come home. She figures it’s no big deal – they’re busy people and must be working late. She goes to bed, wakes up the next morning… still no sign of them.
‘Well,’ she thinks, ’they must have gotten home so late they didn’t want to wake us, and they’ve left early for a breakfast meeting. It’s strange they haven’t left a note, but they must have just forgotten.’
She goes to school and a guy who usually never talks to her, comes up and asks “Are your parents okay?” … This is definitely weird.
Eventually she tells him “Actually, I haven’t seen them. They didn’t come home last night.”
“Okay,” he says, “I need to go to your house right now and get something out of your basement.”
…”We don’t have a basement.”
…
It turns out they do have a basement – locked and hidden under the lounge room carpet. And in this basement is something that Dodie’s family have been guarding for generations.
And now to save her parents Dodie has to transport it from Melbourne to Sydney. And she only has her Learner’s permit.
Students love guessing what this hidden object might be. A nuclear bomb? A King? Superman? Something magic? Something powerful?
Of course it doesn’t take much research or reading to learn that it is, in fact, the physical remains of Jesus Christ. Rest assured, Williams manages to tread the very fine line between irreverence and imagination. The Reluctant Hallelujah is, really, a road-trip adventure story. Which just happens to have Jesus along for the ride.
Other “sales points” worth mentioning are:
- The Reluctant Hallelujah features contemporary teenagers in a way that isn’t forced or trying to be cool (like, when authors try to be all YOLO and LOL hai guise I’m just, like, one of you). For example, the bad guys seem to have an uncanny knack for keeping on Dodie’s trail – turns out this is because her sister can’t resist updating her facebook status.
- It also (with beauty and ease) captures the contemporary world – not only is Dodie caught in a “keep Jesus out of the hands of the bad guys” chase through the tunnels of Melbourne (totally real), and along the back roads of Victoria and New South Wales, but her actions have real-world consequences too e.g. her disappearance catches the attention of her friends, her school, and the police.
- If you’re looking for a book that touches on disability – specifically how people with disabilities are often invisibile in society – The Reluctant Hallelujah ticks that box too. (Dodie & co simultaneously “hide” and move Jesus about by placing Him in a wheelchair.)
So if you’re looking for a laugh, a conversation starter, and/or something a bit different – The Reluctant Hallelujah is the book for you.
Don’t forget to send any fans of The Reluctant Hallelujah, or any of our other shortlisted titles to insideadog.com.au/vote
Alexandra Strick
Alexandra Strick is specialist in the field of children’s books and disability. For more than 10 years she has been a passionate campaigner for making children’s books accessible and inclusive, working as a freelance consultant in all aspects of children’s books and disability. I was utterly delighted when she accepted my request to write a piece for the blog today as a follow up to
yesterday’s round-up of reviews of children’s books which include characters with a disability. So today I hand
Playing by the book over to Alexandra – with huge thanks – I think you’ll find what she has to say very interesting.
I was thrilled when
Playing By the Book invited me to write a guest blog about children’s disability and books.
And could there be a more perfect time to discuss the subject? With the heady exhilaration of the Paralympics having just drawn to a triumphant close, this has to be an ideal opportunity to look at how books can help to build on children’s increased awareness of disability, develop a better understanding of disability issues and harness a growing interest in disability sport.
There’s no doubt that the Paralympics have had an extraordinary effect on the nation. At that opening ceremony just two weeks ago, I remember gasping at the talents of the hand dancer David Toole, and then glancing briefly at Twitter to see a tweet which read ‘OMG look at the adorable little man with no legs trying to dance! Aw bless!’
However, two weeks on, I feel things have definitely shifted. And a Channel Four poll confirms it. Two-thirds of those surveyed said the Paralympics have had a positive impact on their perceptions of disabled people. Paralympic audiences quickly forgot about the competitors’ impairments, to focus on the excitement of a particular sport and the sheer sporting excellence of the athletes. The Paralympians were inspiring not because they were disabled but because they were so incredibly good!
Photo: Chengphoto
I think children’s books featuring positive images of disabled people have the ability to create much the same effect on their audience – and more. I think they can really help our children to see disability in a different way.
Historically, disabled characters in books haven’t always presented the greatest of role models. Disability was generally invisible but where it did appear it often seemed to almost define characters – embodying their evil or bitter nature or positioning them as an object of pity. Heidi, Colin in The Secret Garden, Katy in What Katy Did, Tiny Tim, Captain Hook….I struggle to remember may disabled characters who just ‘happened’ to be disabled without it being a key aspect of the plot.
However, in recent years, some really good inclusive books have started to appear. They give us interesting, fully-rounded disabled characters, so that is their personalities, actions, adventures and aspirations which stand out, not the fact that they happen to be disabled.
It is great that some of these books show disabled people without comment. Disabled characters do not always need to be endowed with superhuman powers or magic wheelchairs! There is also always the risk that books about disabled characters resort to the ‘triumph in adversity’ approach. Instead we need books to show that it isn’t the disability which makes a person different or special, but rather what they do or how they handle a particular situation.
We need to show disability as a normal part of life. So I am always on the lookout for high-quality books which show images of disabled children joining in alongside their non-disabled friends, without comment. Books like those by Child’s Play are good examples. Their board and picture books are full of a diverse range of characters, including children and adults with hearing aids, cochlear implants, mobility aids, wrist splints and wheelchairs. Likewise in picture books like Goat Goes to Playgroup and Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson (and illustrated by Nick Sharratt and Axel Scheffler respectively), we see deaf and disabled characters appear without comment.
Photo: siobh.ie
I am not saying that a children’s book should avoid talking about disability at all or showing a disabled person having any problems or weaknesses. Suggesting that every disabled person is a saint – or that there are never any challenges to overcome – is both unrealistic and unhelpful. Again, one of the things that the Paralympics have achieved is to make people more aware of the different forms of disability which exist and the diversity of experience. Alongside the ‘incidental’ images of disabled people, we also need books which help us to learn more about disability.
Recently I particularly enjoyed the teenage read Whisper by Chrissie Keighery, which shows a girl trying to adapt to life with deafness and struggling to establish whether she can still fit in amongst her hearing friends or find a place within the unfamiliar Deaf community – I think it really reflects the wide spectrum of emotions, views and experiences of deafness.
I’m also glad that we have a growing number of well-written books which remind children that disability isn’t just about wheelchairs – but also Asperger’s Syndrome, mental lillness, learning disability or facial disfigurement. Then there are other great books which really challenge the way we think about disability. For young adults (and adults!), Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman, Naked Without a Hat by Jeanne Willis and Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBride Johnson will provide particularly challenging food for thought. In their own ways, they each contest some of the common myths, stereotypes and assumptions about disability.
Braille Practice in Dhaka. Photo: The Advocacy Project
There are lots of great sites to help us find good inclusive books – including Booktrust’s Bookmark site, Letterbox Library and Scope’s In the Picture website.
I hope by exposing children to a range of really good inclusive books, we can help sustain the positive ‘Paralympic effect’ whilst also developing a better understanding of disability issues, and from an early age.
Above all, what children’s books can surely do is to help ensure that the future generations recognise that – very simply – disabled people are just like the rest of us.
Some useful websites with information about children’s books and disability, as recommended by Alexandra:
www.childreninthepicture.org.uk
www.letterboxlibrary.com
www.withoutexception.co.uk
You can read more about the work Alexandra does on her website http://www.alexandrastrick.co.uk/. You can also follow her on twitter @stricolo and do check out the web resource she has created for Booktrust on disability in books, www.bookmark.org.uk. If you’ve any comments, or questions you’d like to put to Alexandra, please do leave them in the comments to this post – Alexandra is happy to reply to any queries.
Welcome to “I’m looking for a book about….”, the topic-themed monthly carnival of children’s literature.
Every month I’ll be encouraging anyone who likes to review books for children (of any age) to leave links to their reviews of books that match the given month’s theme. The idea is that over time, this carnival will become a resource for parents, teachers, carers, librarians looking for books by subject.
Old reviews, new reviews, and reviews for any age are welcome. You may also submit multiple reviews, as long as they are all relevant to this month’s theme.
This month’s theme is…
**Disability**
I say theme, but actually I’m hoping that we’ll create a resource of books which are about all sorts of things, which just happen to feature characters with some disability, rather than disability being the sole focus of the books in question. I’m hoping that with the close yesterday of the 2012 Paralympics, lots of children will have seen many more people with varying disabilities and that it will have been both a topic of conversation and also something “normal”, part of everyday life.
Let’s kick off this round up with a review from Sandie at Picturebooks in ELT of Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Tony Ross. As the blurb on the book cover says “Without being condescending or preachy, the words, pictures and design of this very simple picturebook show that a physically disabled child is ‘just like me, just like you’”
Denise, writing at the Nerdy Book Club, has a whole shelf-ful of books to recommend featuring characters with disabilities ranging from speech difficulties to Downs Syndrome. The list, mostly of picture books, was inspired after a reading of Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
Over on the Nosy Crow blog there is a wonderful list of books and other lists of books featuring characters with hearing and or sight loss. Do check out the comments for even more useful ideas about (reading and writing) books which include characters with a disability.
Looking forward to discovering more books as you link to your reviews (new or old) of children’s books which include a character with a disability. Please add them by clicking on the blue “Add your link” button below, or by leaving them in the comments.
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Lucky Can a terrier named Lucy bounce back from some bad luck. “Lucky” the illustrated children’s book by Craig Inglis is a puppy tale any child will love. With an easy-to-read story and beautiful illustrations by Richard Kinsey, this uplifting, enlightening picture book shows children that they can overcome even the most challenging of problems [...]
Happy Baseball Season, readers! As Major League Baseball is gearing up for another rousing year, Lee & Low is releasing a picture book biography about a little talked about baseball legend who made a powerful impact. William “Dummy” Hoy was a talented player with a standout record who made an immense impact on the way that the great American pastime was played. Hoy’s stats are even more impressive when you consider that he was also one of the first deaf players in Major League Baseball.
Career highlights:
Hoy led the National League in Stolen Bases with 82 in 1888, his rookie year. He had 596 total in his career.
He twice led the league in walks, with 117 in 1891.
With 33 sacrifice hits in 1896, he led the National League that year.
He had 2048 hits in his 14 year career, including 40 home runs, with a career batting average of .288.
Hoy’s inspiring story of success based on drive and determination, and against all odds, is introduced to a new generation in Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy by Bill Wise and illustrated by Adam Gustavson, coming to a store near you on April 15. This might seem like a divergence from our usual focus on children of color, but as we expand our definition of diversity we knew that Hoy’s story had to be told.
Find out more about Hoy’s stats and the campaign to get Hoy inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don’t forget to go out and play some ball yourself this summer!
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Whilst browsing the Oxford journal Age and Ageing last week, I came across a paper focusing on diabetes in the elderly. Interestingly, it noted that men and women with diabetes aged 65 or over are one and half times more likely to have recurrent falls than people in the same age bracket without diabetes. Having two sets of grandparents in their seventies, one pair with diabetes and one without, I wanted to know about this correlation between diabetes and falling, and how it might apply to them. Here, I speak with Ms. Evelien Pijpers (EP), author of this paper, to learn more. – Nicola (NB)
NB: Your recent paper says that in a three-year study of 1145 Dutch participants aged 65 and over, you discovered an increased risk of recurrent falls associated with diabetes. Can you explain why those with diabetes are more likely to have a fall?
EP: We examined a number of possible contributing factors which led to this increased likelihood of recurrent falls, yet we can only explain about half of the increased risk faced by older patients with diabetes.
The factors which we did link with the increased risk of recurrent falling in patients with diabetes included the use of four or more medications; higher levels of chronic pain, mostly experienced in the muscles and bones; poorer self-perceived health; lower physical activity, grip strength and sense of balance, combined with greater limitations in the performance of daily activities such as bathing and dressing; and more significant problems with cognitive impairment.
Fortunately for the patients, we didn’t record enough major injuries or fractures over the three-year study period to be able to track any correlation between diabetes and fracture risk in older people.
NB: What are the consequences of recurrent falling?
EP: As a geriatrician, I see a lot of mobility problems in older patients. They are present in older people in the accident and emergency department, the hospital wards, and the care and nursing homes. When I visit my older patients at home, it is both the mobility difficulties and the fear of falling which stop them from walking to the shops or strolling through the cobblestone streets of Maastricht.
My older patients with diabetes seem to be especially prone to fall and injure themselves. Even if they avoid lasting injury, I find that afterwards they try and avoid situations in which they could fall again. This unfortunately limits their social contact and the number of physical activities they are willing to undertake, and as such their physical condition declines, sometimes to the point where disability and loss of independence are inevitable. For those with diabetes who are more likely to fall, it is more likely that they will face this quandary.
NB: So what could be done to prevent the increased fall risk in older persons with diabetes?
EP: To improve the quality of life of this growing group of older patients with diabetes, it is important to keep them physically and mentally active, mobile, and able to avoid falls and injuries. Therefore even though we cannot yet account for the entirety of the increased risk of falling, it is possible to address fall risk factors we now know about. A medication review can help, as can muscle training and activities to improve balance – which in turn may even improve pain induced by osteoarthritis. Improving mobility helps individuals to perform everyday activities, and it is easier to feel positive about your health if you are able to maintain independence. It is important that we teach older patients how to fall with the least risk of injury, and how to pick yourself up (both physically and mentally) when you have fallen without losing confidence. As such, physicians should be in the practice of counselling all elderly diabetic patients about active lifestyles and the importance of mobi
To live inside a body which has physical limitations can go farther than one may think. Especially a body whose brain in damaged, commonly named Cerebral Palsy. This is the life I live, this is the body in which have.
I am so glad I have a sense of humor; I strongly believe God knew I would have much use for it! My life with Cerebral Palsy has been quite interesting. The longer I live the more interesting “it” becomes. I must admit, I haven’t quite mastered the technique of laughing when I need to the most. But I’m working on it! Yes, being able to laugh at myself is key.
My brain has Cerebral Palsy — not my dreams. There is so much I want to do, so much I want to experience. So many goals I wish to achieve, so many which have become dreams that I want to become reality. My disability doesn’t limit my ability to dream, nor does it mask them. I have even contemplated skydiving! I think it stems from my wanting to do something wild and crazy for once. Yeah, I’ve thought it out… There would be a bunch of good looking men awaiting to catch me in a body of water! (see? My sense of humor is showing!) I have still deeper dreams in which are known to God. Ok, I will reveal one of my dreams, and that is to become a published author. For now I am published online, thanks to Triond!
My brain has Cerebral Palsy — not my mind. Many associate the mind with the brain; while this is somewhat physically true, there is, lets say, a dividing point. Perhaps I’m wrong, I don’t know. In my case, it’s just what I feel. Many are astounded by how “smart” or “bright” I am. When they know of my writing they are amazed. Once they read some of my work, they ask one of two questions… “How do you do that?” or “You wrote that all by yourself?” to which I answer the same to both questions, “God!”
My brain has Cerebral Palsy — not my heart. I’m finding the old saying, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” to be very true. I’m also learning that the heart is much more powerful than the brain. My brain tries to tell my heart that certain things will never happen or just can’t be, but my heart doesn’t listen. Again, my disability doesn’t limit my heart’s desires, but rather, enhances them.
Life is hard, not only for the disabled, but for all who are walking (or rolling!) on this earth. So, I daily choose to stand strong in my spirit knowing God has a plan and a purpose for everything and for every life. I will dream my dreams, write for His glory, and follow my heart no matter what. He sends me so many blessings, and has entrusted to me so much, reminding me that my brain has Cerebral Palsy — not me.
In Adult Learning Disabilities and ADHD Robert L. Mapou provides scientific and practical guidance on assessing learning disabilities and ADHD in adults. In the excerpt below Mapou looks at the definition of “disability”.
To begin, it is important to understand the distinction between the neuropsychological concept of a learning disability, with which most clinicians are familiar, and the legal concept of a learning disability, which may be less familiar. Note that the same distinction can be made between ADHD as a neuropsychological disorder and ADHD as a disability from a legal perspective. As discussed further, this distinction is important to understand, because not all disorders that cause neuropsychological impairment are considered disabling from a legal perspective. In fact, Gordon, Lewondowski, Murphy, and Dempsey (2002) found that many clinicians were not clear about this distinction.
Regarding the concept of a learning disability, Brumback (2004) noted that the term was first used in a professional context at the 1963 Conference on the Exploration into the Problems of the Perceptually Handicapped Child. At that meeting, Samuel Kirk, who was a professor of special education at the University of Illinois, stated:
I have used the term “learning disabilities” to describe a group of children who have disorders in development in language, speech, reading, and associated communication skills needed for social interaction. In this group I do not include children who have sensory handicaps such as blindness or deafness, because we have methods of managing and training the deaf and the blind. I also exclude from this group children who have generalized mental retardation. (cited in Brumback, 2004)
Shortly after this conference, members of the audience organized the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (now the Learning Disabilities Association of America), and a grassroots organization focused on learning disabilities began to grow. For many years the term “learning disability” was conceptual rather than legal. It came to refer to a disorder in one of the basic academic skills (i.e., reading, writing, math), as manifested by poor progress in school for children of presumed normal intelligence, but it did not include criteria for determining the degree of disability. Even the first legal definitions of a learning disability, used to identify learning disabled children in public education…did not specify the degree of impairment needed to establish disability.
These educational laws also did not apply to adults. However, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which mandated equal access to facilities that received federal financial assistance, established a broad functional definition of disability for both children and adults. For example, Section 504 of the Act is commonly used to provide accommodations for children in school who are disabled but do not require special education services. With the 1990 passing of ADA, the protections of Section 504 were expanded to mandate equal access for individuals with disabilities in public and private settings, including school and work. The definition of who is protected was taken directly from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and included in the ADA. According to the ADA:
A disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of [an] individual.”
A person is considered disabled if “the individual’s important life activities are restricted as to the conditions, manner, or duration under which they can be performed in comparison to most people.”
The ADA also protects individuals who have a history of a disability or who are perceived as having a disability, as it is intended to cover a broad array of individuals. However, from a diagnostic standpoint, clinicians who are doing evaluations of those with learning disabilities or ADHD focus on the first two criteria. As a result of the ADA’s far broader coverage compared with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there have been greater demands on the clinician to provide adequate documentation. In response to the ADA, personnel in postsecondary education settings concluded that it was necessary to document that the features of a diagnosed learning disability or ADHD fit with extant research and that the degree of impairment rose to the level of the legal definition of a disability. This, in turn, led to the establishment of guidelines for evaluation of adolescents and adults with learning disabilities and ADHD in the late 1990s (Association on Higher Education and Disability, 1997; Educational Testing Service, 1998a, 1998b).
However, these guidelines have sometimes left clinicians in the position of having evaluated individuals in their practice who clearly had problems in a specific academic skill or had ADHD, but whose impairment might not have met the legal definition of a disability. Think, for instance, of individuals labeled in the past as gifted and learning disabled or having ADHD. Many of these individuals—with superior or very superior intellectual skills, but only average reading or writing skills—could not read or write at the level of their intellect. Although they were impaired compared with peers of similar intelligence and may have received special education services and accommodations in primary and secondary schooling based on an aptitude-achievement discrepancy (Gordon, Lewandowski, & Keiser, 1999), this impairment was relative. Most would not be considered disabled in terms of how they perform life activities “in comparison with most people.”
It is very important to understand this concept…when evaluating adults for learning disabilities or ADHD. It implies that not all learning disorders that cause impairment rise to the level of a disability. That is, a person may be impaired on neuropsychological testing and have relative weaknesses in everyday functioning, but the impairment may not be disabling based on the legal definition. Consequently, from a clinical standpoint, not everyone with neuropsychological impairment qualifies for accommodations. Much research on learning disabilities and ADHD is based on the presence of a disorder or impairment, but typically does not address whether the subject is disabled from a legal perspective. Therefore, for the purpose of definition in this book, the term “learning disorder” is considered broader than the term “learning disability,” with the latter referring to a disorder that is disabling from a legal perspective. However, it is important to note that not everyone writing about learning disabilities uses these terms in the same way. The next three chapters on research and assessment use the term “disorder” interchangeably with “disability,” often based on which term was used in the cited study…
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Love this post, Tara! I have a special-needs kiddo and spent so much of her early life worrying about her being different and fitting in with others. Years later, I see her doing everything her friends do, in her own way, and wish I could have enjoyed that toddler time more. Slowly, I’m learning the within/beyond my control lesson!
Beautiful post! Thanks for putting yourself out there and sharing your heart!
I think one of the most important lessons I learned was that everyone has some kind of battle they’re fighting. The accomplishments of others that may make us jealous are really never as easily won as we imagine them to be. There is always a struggle and obstacles to overcome. When we remember that, we are so much more kinder and understanding, aren’t we?
I haven’t yet read R. J. Palacio’s Julian chapter that follows WONDER, but I suspect that will carry this message about everyone having a battle of some kind. All battles may not be equally difficult, but hopefully we all learn something from our own battles that we can carry into the world with us.
Ann – thanks for being brave enough to share here. Thank goodness for courage and for those strong enough to seek it out!
The timing of this post was for me, impeccable! Thanks for the wonderful words and giving of the feeling that we writers are not alone in our challenges!
Hi Tara,
Loved this post. I’m replying via email rather than posting a comment because I’d like to suggest you contact someone at Exceptional Parent magazine to see if they’ll publish it. I think all you’ll need is a short intro stating something like, “The following is…” to explain it and why you’re sharing it in EP, and include a bio in a sidebar.
If you aren’t familiar with EP, it’s a magazine for individuals with special needs (and parents of). I think your post would be inspirational and motivating to many EP readers, and of course, it will help you promote your own work.
They pay ZERO for articles. Sorry. (I write the monthly financial articles, but I’m hired by MassMutual so I’m paid by them.)
Go here to see what they’re about: http://www.eparent.com
If you’d like the name of someone to contact, let me know.
cwm
Thank you.
Thank you, Carol!
Inspiring post! Great “go get em” attitude. May God bless you and bring healing!