El Deafo, Cece Bell

Title:  El Deafo
Author:  Cece Bell
Publisher:  Harry N. Abrams
Year:  2014
Pages: 233
Genre:  Memoir, Graphic Novel
Theme:  Disability, Perseverance, Friendship, Self-Esteem
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. 

Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom, but anywhere her teacher is in school--in the hallway...in the teacher's lounge...in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different... and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend?

Review:
Charming is the first word that comes to mind when I try to describe this graphic novel about a girl (rabbit?!?) with a hearing impairment.  Cece Bell tells her own story in this engaging memoir, which details her bout with meningitis as a toddler, her struggle to learn to lip read, her ambivalence with her hearing aids, and her eventual acceptance of herself exactly the way she is.

Bell grew up in the 1970s, and there are quite a few pop culture references that today's student readers may not get right away.  But I grew up during the same period as Bell, and I found myself fondly remembering times and places from my own childhood.  The setting also highlights the difference in treatment options for children with hearing impairments today, when technology has allowed doctors to return normal or almost normal hearing to many people who would not have been able to hear as well in the past.

What hasn't changed, as far as I can tell, though, is the way that the deaf and hard of hearing are perceived and treated by some in society.  Cece's experiences demonstrate the things that people do, with good intentions or bad, that make people with hearing impairments (or physical or cognitive disabilities) feel like the "other".  Cece was afraid to stand out, didn't want to be noticed for her hearing aids or her awkward speech. She pretended to understand things that she didn't really hear in an effort to "fit in".  She desperately wanted a friend who just treated her like the normal person she really is inside, but the various other children she met during her elementary school years never seemed to be able to totally forget the hearing impairment.  She was the "deaf" friend, the friend who sometimes made unfortunate, laughable mistakes because of her difficulty understanding speech,  and some of the girls who befriended her seemed to be motivated by their own desire to be noticed for their kindness to the "deaf" girl.

There are a few things in this book that might be problematic in a school setting.  It was the 70s, and people smoked in the 70s (including her teacher, which is mentioned one time in one panel).  There is also some bathroom humor involving Cece's ability to hear her teacher while peeing.  I didn't find anything really objectionable, but if you are a teacher, you know your population and what would be acceptable or not.  There are definitely plenty of opportunities for discussion with the themes in this book, and the fact that this is a memoir makes the message even more powerful.

Teacher Resources:
Cece Bell Talking About El Deafo
Cece Bell's Website
Abrams Teaching Guides

Okay for Now, Gary D. Schmidt

Title:  Okay for Now
Author:  Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher:  Clarion Books
Year:  2011
Pages:  360
Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction
Themes:  Child Abuse, the Effects of War, Dealing with Loss, Learning Disabilities
Age Range:  5th-8th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.

Review:
Gary Schmidt is well known for his Newbery honor books, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars.   His books explore the unlikely friendships that can develop when seemingly incompatible people find common ground.  He returns to the world of The Wednesday Wars for this novel, making bad boy Doug Swietack the focus of Okay for Now.

Things in Doug's life are pretty tough-an abusive father, a bully of a brother, and another off fighting in Viet Nam.  His one bright spot at home is his mother, who does everything she can to mitigate his father's rages, but who is just as likely to fall prey to them.  Things aren't much better at school.  He never learned to read, and his teachers decide before they even meet him that he is probably the same kind of trouble maker his older brothers were.  Things don't improve when his father loses his job and moves the family to a new town looking for work.  When stores start getting robbed, the entire town assumes it must be one of the Swietacks, and sentiment turns against them pretty quickly.

Doug is saved by a quirky cast of characters who help him discover new parts of himself.  Lil Spicer, the boss's daughter, pushes him to be a better person than his father or brothers; an elderly librarian who encourages his drawing talent, and a reclusive writer who helps him discover the power of words.  This is not always an easy story to read, because Schmidt does not shy away from describing, though not in great detail, the father's alcoholism and rough treatment of the family.  Doug doesn't always make the best choices, but he strives to be a better person throughout the book, and mostly he succeeds.  In this way I think that a lot of students, especially those who have also been misjudged or who have faced similar situations at home or school, will really be able to relate to Doug.  There is also plenty of meat here for discussion, making it good to use for guided reading or as a book club selection for upper elementary or middle school kids.

Firegirl, by Tony Abbott

Title: Firegirl

Author: Tony Abbott
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Year: 2006
Pages:  147
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Disability, Acceptance, Friendship
Age Range:  3rd-5th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

"...there is..." Mrs. Tracy was saying quietly, "there is something we need to know about Jessica..."
From this moment on, life is never quite the same for Tom and his seventh-grade classmates. They learn that Jessica has been in a fire and was badly burned, and will be attending St. Catherine's while getting medical treatments. Despite her horrifying appearance and the fear she evokes in him and most of the class, Tom slowly develops a tentative friendship with Jessica that changes his life. 

Review:
I loved this book!  Recently there has been a spate of novels about kids with disabilities finding varying levels of acceptance-both from themselves and from others.  Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine, The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Drunen...all of these books do an excellent job of bringing attention to the issues that children and youth with disabilities deal with on a daily basis.  Most of those books are for intermediate or middle school readers, and schools in my district have used them as part of a unit on dealing with disabilities and acceptance.  Well, Firegirl can definitely be added to the list of books perfect for teaching these important social justice concepts.  The reading level is lower than any of those other books, making it perfect for use during guided reading or literature circles for your lower readers. The readability may be easier, but the content is just an challenging, and the opportunities for discussion are just as numerous, as any of the other books I mentioned.

The book is told from the point of view of Tom, a seventh grade student at a prestigious private school in New Haven, Connecticut.  When Jessica joins their class, the other students are not sure what to make of her.  If you've ever seen a burn victim, then you have some idea of what Jessica's appearance was.  Abbott describes it in pretty vivid detail, but not gratuitously.  Tom, an inherently kind boy, feel very uncomfortable with his classmates reactions to her, and to their speculation about how she got the burns that scarred her so horribly.  He finds himself torn between doing the right thing and preserving his friendship with his best friend, who takes what seemed to me to be an irrational dislike to Jessica.   Abbott does an excellent job of showing Tom's inner turmoil, and even when he chooses compassion over peer acceptance, the book never falls into the trite, Hallmark moment sentimentality that mars so many TV movie attempts at showing these same kinds of stories.  Jessica is also a pretty realistic, complicated character.  She is not always likeable, she does not always make good choices, she is obviously scarred emotionally and not just physically by what happened to her.  The temptation with these kinds of characters is to make them saccharine, to reduce their very real struggles with tropes about inner strength and heroism, when in reality the road to recovery is long, painful, and full of dark moments.  Abbott avoids that-you feel compassion and sympathy for characters, but never pity or sappiness.

The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanen

Title:  The Running Dream
Author:  Wendelin Van Draanen
Publsiher:  Knopf Books for Young Readers
Year: 2011
Pages:  332
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Overcoming Obstacles, Disability, Loss, Friendship
Age Range:  6th Grade and Above

Summary:  from Goodreads

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? 

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.

With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her

Review:
 I wasn't sure what to expect from Van Draanen's book, The Running Dream.  I knew her best as the author of the Sammy Keyes series and the Shredderman series for intermediate age readers, and to be honest while I find the characters in those books pretty endearing, I wasn't sure whether Van Draanen could pull off the level of depth that a story like this seems to require.  I shouldn't have been concerned-The Running Dream is a touching story about a girl who learns to deal with the devastating loss of her dream of running in the Olympics, while at the same time learning the importance of not stereotyping someone based on their disability.

Jessica goes through the well-known stages of grief over the loss of her leg, as well as the death of her teammate in the bus crash.  She alternates between depression, anger, denial, and hope during her time at the hospital, and throughout the process of transitioning back to home and school.  Luckily for her, she has a best friend that won't give up on her, and a team that comes together to get her back on the track.

Her support system is definitely a major factor in her recovery, but what really makes her come to terms with her new reality is her friendship with Rosa.  Like many people, Jessica always assumed that anyone with the type of physical disabilities that Rosa has must also be cognitively impaired, which is often far from true.  Rosa is smart and funny and warm, and she reminded me of the character from Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind, which also busted some stereotypes about the physically disabled.  Their friendship definitely ups the emotional impact of the book.

Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine

Title:  Mockingbird
Author:  Kathryn Erskine
Publisher:  Philomel
Year:  2012
Pages:  224
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Disabilities, Autism, Overcoming Loss
Age Range:  4th-8th Grade

Summary:  (from Goodreads)

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful

Review:  
Erskine does an excellent job creating believable, relate-able characters, and Mockingbird is no exception.  Caitlin has Aspergers syndrome, a neurological condition about which much has been written over the past decade or so.  Now considered one of the conditions under the umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), people with Aspergers syndrome are often highly intelligent, creative people with difficulty understanding and processing pragmatic language and emotions.  Caitlin is very self-centered, but not in the conceited way of a spoiled child.  Caitlin has trouble with empathy, which becomes apparent early on through her interactions with her father, her counselor at school, and her father.  What makes this book about a child with ASD different from others I have read is the emotionally charged context-Caitlin's brother was killed in a school shooting, which forces her to come out of her own Caitlin-centric world and begin to take the needs and feelings of others into account.

Given the years I spent teaching special education, I'd say that Erskine is right on in regards to what she imagines goes on in Ccaitlin's head.  Of course, it's hard to say, since as far as I know Erskine herself does not have Aspergers, but it feels authentic based on my experiences with kids who have ASD.  Sometimes (unintentionally) funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest, Caitlin as narrator gives the story an emotional punch that would not be present in third person.  Dealing with the loss of her brother, and the subsequent grief of her father (as well as her own), is the instigating act that sets in motion a period of growth for Caitlin-and for the community as a whole.

While we have had way too many opportunities to read about school shootings and their aftermath, I think that Erskine does a good job framing the story with the shooting without describing it in such detail that it might frighten younger readers.  This book, despite the topic, is very accessible to mature 4th grade readers, and has something important to say to students in the middle grades.  Ultimately, Caitlin is not the only one to discover her empathy within the context of the story, and students can discuss what it means to be accepting of people with disabilities.  Also, any child who has suffered a major loss should find things that will resonate with them, and give them a chance to process their loss and discuss it in a less-threatening way through Caitlin's story.

Teacher Resources:
Lesson Ideas from Six Trait Gurus
Novel Study from TeachingBooks.net
Kathryn Erskine's Website

Just Juice, by Karen Hesse

Title:  Just Juice
Author:  Karen Hesse
Publisher:  Scholastic
Year:  1999
Pages:  144
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Poverty, Overcoming Hardship, Perseverance, Literacy, Disability
Age Range:  3rd-5th Grade

Summary:  
Juice Faulstitch doesn't like school.  Letter and numbers just don't make sense to her.  She'd rather skip school and spend the day walking around the North Carolina countryside with her out-of-work father any day.  Her two oldest sisters are in school, her two younger sisters are at home with their mother, and with mom pregnant with baby number six, she doesn't have time to energy to force Juice to school.  Her family is poor, poorer than anyone they know.  Her father is an out of work miner, and the family gets by on government assistance.  Their house was left to them by a relative, but they haven't been able to pay the taxes.  Now the county says they are selling the house for taxes, and Juice and her father have to come up with a plan to save their family.

Review:
There is a lot jammed into this very short book.  I almost listed historical fiction as the genre, until I realized that everything described in the book-the unemployment, the poverty, the illiteracy, the lack of medical care-are circumstances that are still all too common in the Appalachian region of the country, which is presumably where this family is from.  Juice clearly has a learning disability, but is afraid to let her teacher give her the tests that could identify it and help her learn.  Her father, it turns out, is also illiterate, which is what keeps the family from dealing with the tax mess before it was too late.  Juice's mother does what she can to help the family get by, making craft items to sell in a shop in town, but with five children to look after-plus one on the way-and a husband with depression, which the father certainly has, she has about all she can handle.  Their remote location and lack of reliable transportation make it difficult for her to get medical care, and if not for a visiting nurse she would likely have died of gestational diabetes.  Juice and her family have seen a lot of the downside of life.

But despite all of their challenges, there is great love obvious in the family.  The girls all care for each other, and try to help Juice learn enough to "catch up" with school.  Their father obviously feels incredibly guilty about his inability to make a living to support them adequately, and Juice lives to take him out of his head and be as big a help to him as she can.  Mother and Father are clearly in love, and neither wants to burden the other with more stress or bad news.  But if there is one thing that is clear from the story, it is the importance of communication-including and especially the written kind.  The problem of illiteracy was the largest stumbling block for the family, affecting every other part of their lives.  Reading this book is likely to make most children more grateful for the blessings they have, but Juice's character is not someone to be pitied.  She is smart and resourceful, and despite her many challenges she as a strength of spirit that is admirable regardless of a person's circumstances.

Teacher Resources:
Scholastic Discussion Guide
Literature Circles Guide

The Absolute Value of Mike, by Kathryn Erskine

Title:  The Absolute Value of Mike
Author:  Kathryn Erskine
Publisher:  Philomel
Year:  2011
Pages:  256
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Family, Loss, Belonging
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

Mike tries so hard to please his father, but the only language his dad seems to speak is calculus. And for a boy with a math learning disability, nothing could be more difficult. When his dad sends him to live with distant relatives in rural Pennsylvania for the summer to work on an engineering project, Mike figures this is his big chance to buckle down and prove himself. But when he gets there, nothing is what he thought it would be. The project has nothing at all to do with engineering, and he finds himself working alongside his wacky eighty-something- year-old aunt, a homeless man, and a punk rock girl as part of a town-wide project to adopt a boy from Romania. Mike may not learn anything about engineering, but what he does learn is far more valuable.

Review:
I loved this book!  Erskine has created such a quirky cast of characters, each deeply flawed but with their own set of endearing qualities-Moo, who refuses to admit the limitations of age and health; Poppy, stunned into complete withdrawal from the world by the death of his son; Past, who finds that running away from loss in a small town is easier said than done; and Mike himself, who needs the nudge of an entire community to recognize his own worth.  Erskine returns to one of the motifs of her earlier work, Mockingbird, when strongly implies that Mike's dad, the math genius, is also on the autism spectrum.  In that regard, this book gives the reader an understanding of what it may be like to be the child of someone who has difficulty expressing the emotional connections they feel with others.

The detailed characterization sets the perfect foundation for the plot.  When Mike discovers that the town is trying to help a local minister adopt a small boy from Romania, at first he is skeptical.  How can this cast of eccentric, sometimes barely functioning people raise the money for the adoption before the deadline?  But then he sees the face of the boy, named Misha.  Misha, incidentally, is the Romanian version of Mike, and Mike immediately feels a strong connection with the little boy living an ocean away.  Misha becomes the symbol of everything that Mike has felt but never articulated or dealt with emotionally-the loss of his mother, his emotionally distant father, the feeling of abandonment and loneliness  and his deep-seated insecurities about his own abilities.  In saving Misha from the orphanage, Mike saves himself, and a few other people as well.

The Thing about Georgie, by Lisa Graff

Title:  The Thing About Georgie
Author:  Lisa Graff
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2007
Pages:  224
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Disabilities, Acceptance, Friendship, Family
Age Range:  3rd through 6th Grade

Summary:  
Everyone has a "thing"-something about them that other people see that defines a part of who they are.  Like the thing about me is that I love books, or that I am an opinionated liberal.  Well, the thing about Georgie is that he is a dwarf, and now that he is in fourth grade he is starting to realize what that means for his future.  He is never going to get much taller than the 42 inches he has already attained, which makes managing in school, with too-big furniture and more and more activities he can't participate in, that much more difficult.  His mother is pregnant, with a baby who is likely NOT going to be a dwarf, and Georgie feels like the new Godzilla baby will overshadow him.  His best friend Andy made friends with the new boy in their class, and Georgie is pretty sure he like him better.  And his is forced to be partners with Jeanie the Meanie for a class project.  How do you grow up when you aren't getting any taller?

Review:
I thought that this book was absolutely charming.  As far as I'm concerned, the thing about Georgie is that he was such a normal little boy, even if he is a dwarf,  This kind of story can quickly devolve into the children's book equivalent of a Lifetime Movie, with lots of sappy sentimentality and tear-jerker moments, but Graff does an excellent job showing that children with physical disabilities have the same feelings, and can act in the same obnoxious ways, as any other kids.  Georgie's feelings are informed by his condition, but they are not because of his condition, and in the end he finds he is not really defined by his condition, either.  Georgie's worries about his friendship and the fears he has about the new baby taking his place with his parents are fairly universal...whether a person has dwarfism or not.  I think that kids will really relate to Georgie, and this book is a great way to introduce disabilities in such a way that students understand that people with disabilities are people first, and should be treated as such.

Teacher Resources:
TeachingBooks.net
TeacherVision Reading Guide
Scholastic Book Wizard

Feathers, by Jacqueline Woodson

Title:  Feathers
Author:  Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher:  Putnam Juvenile
Year:  2007
Pages:  116
Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Multicultural
Themes:  Acceptance, Disabilities, Multiculturalism
Age Level:  6th Grade and Up

Summary: (from Goodreads)
"Hope is the thing with feathers," starts the poem Frannie is reading in school. Frannie hasn't thought much about hope. There are so many other things to think about. Each day, her friend Samantha seems a bit more holy.”There is a new boy in class everyone is calling the Jesus Boy. And although the new boy looks like a white kid, he says he’is not white. Who is he?

During a winter full of surprises, good and bad, Frannie starts seeing a lot of things in a new light:—her brother Sean's deafness, her mother's fear, the class bully's anger, her best friend's faith and her own desire for the thing with feathers.”

Review:

Woodson's books are like small jewels, each one getting right to the heart of the matter in lyric prose that is sparingly beautiful.  In Feathers, Frannie is living in the early 1970s, a time when we as a culture were still struggling to come to terms with the many changes brought about by the turbulent 60s.  Woodson does a wonderful job portraying that particular time, especially the racial divisions that persisted despite the civil rights movement's many battles for equality.  The arrival of Jesus Boy throws everyone's beliefs about racial identity and where they "belong" into question.  His peacefulness and obvious unconcern for how he is perceived by others makes no sense to a group of children who are constantly monitoring themselves and each other for "coolness".   Her brother Sean's deafness, and the way that he carries himself with confidence despite it, plays a large part in her realizations about courage and hope.  Frannie is also deeply affected by the death of her sister as a baby, and her mother's subsequent miscarriages and depression.  When her mother becomes pregnant again, Frannnie is upset that she will no longer be the "baby" of the family, and worries about whether this baby will make it.  Through the course of the book she goes from a self-centered child only concerned about losing her mother's attention, to a compassionate young woman full of hope for her mother to be healthy and happy with her new sibling.  This short book is ripe with topics for discussion, and could be used as part of a unit on family or multiculturalism very easily.


Teacher Resources:
The Best Children's Books.org
Penguin Reading Group Guide

Anything But Typical, by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Title:  Anything But Typical
Author:  Nora Raleigh Baskin
Publisher:  Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages:  208
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Self-Acceptance, Friendship, Disabilities
Age Level:  4th through 7th Grade

Summary:
Jason Block is a boy with autism navigating the neurotypical world.  The book, told in a first person narrative from Jason, tells the story of Jason's atypical behaviors-such as hand flapping and hair pulling-and the very typical feelings of awkwardness, self-doubt, and fear that almost any 12 year old feels from time to time.  We discover that Jason is a creative writing whiz, and he begins an online correspondence with another author on his favorite writing website.  The girl, nicknamed Phoenixbird, loves Jason's stories, and frequently asks him for advice for her stories.  Jason feels like he may finally have his first real friend-until the possibility that they could meet in person derails his good feeling.  Can she like him if she sees how he really is?

Review:
Having worked with children with autism many times over the year, I can state that this narrative feels as authentic to me as anyone could write, given the fact that many people with autism have difficulty communicating at all, and especially in communicating their feelings.  Jason has a rich internal life, which he is frequently frustrated about not being able to express.  Like many young people with autism, Jason has learned and developed rules for himself to govern his social interactions,  but the tumultuous period of preadolescence leaves him unprepared for  the ways that he and his peers are changing.  

Baskin does an admirable job keeping this book from becoming another "heart-warming" story of overcoming disabilities.  Not that it doesn't have its tear-inducing moments, but unlike books I like to call the "Lifetime Movie" version of literature, there are no completely easy answers for Jason.  His mother has still not really come to terms with his disability, and she is alternately overly-protective and frustrated by his behaviors.  More than once I wanted to tell her to lay off-if Jason doesn't care that his belt is too tight why should she?  But I have worked with many parents over the years who have trouble finding a balance between accepting their child for who they are and helping them become more "typical".  When Jason finally meets Phoenixbird, it does not go as smoothly as Jason (and the reader) wish that it would.  But that is real life for many children with disabilities, and makes Baskin's story ring true.

Teacher Resources:
Simon and Schuster Reading Guide 
Nora Baskin's Website 
Autism Awareness Lesson Plans 

Out of My Mind, Sharon M. Draper

Title:  Out of My Mind
Author:  Sharon Draper
Publisher:  Atheneum
Pages:  295
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  5th-8th Grade



Summary:
Melody is 11 years old, and she has never said a word.  Born with cerebral palsy that has left her unable to walk, speak, or control her limbs, she has lived her entire life unable to communicate with her parents or teachers.  But that doesn't mean that she doesn't have plenty to say.  Her physical limitations hide mind with a photographic memory, the mind of an extremely smart girl frustrated by people's perceptions of her as retarded.  Finally, in fifth grade, she gets a classroom aide who sees past her disability, and together they get her the technology she needs to communicate.  To everyone's surprise but her own, Melody qualifies for her school's academic bowl team.  But what should feel like the answer to all of her prayers for recognition and acceptance is just the start of the battle to show the world who she is inside.

Review:
This book was recommended to me by a very dear friend with excellent taste in young adult literature, so it is no real surprise to me that I enjoyed this book.  But really, enjoyment does not begin to describe how I feel about this book.  As a special educator, I have constantly fought to get my students recognized for what they can do, rather than always focusing on what they can't.  Melody's story is like the fulfillment of every dream I have ever had for my students.

I literally read this book in one sitting.  As Melody described her challenges, I felt her frustration.  When she described her family, it was with a clear understanding that they were flawed, but doing the best they could.  When her mother tells off the doctors and teachers who underestimate Melody, I cheered, even though she herself underestimated her brilliant daughter.  When Melody "speaks" to her parents for the first time, I cried.  And when she in confronted by students and teachers at school who see only her physical limitations, I had a sudden urge to punch something.  

This is no after-school special, however.  There is no heart-warming moment where suddenly everyone has an epiphany about how special Melody is.  The kids don't suddenly start inviting her to sleep-overs or making play dates.  Things do not turn out perfectly for Melody, but that is part of what makes this book so powerful.  It is about more than just gaining the acceptance of others-it is about learning to accept yourself.  Part of the lesson that Melody has to learn is how to deal with her loneliness and frustration, and not let it turn into self-pity and self-loathing.  Draper's portrayal of Melody and her experiences feels all the more authentic for not turning out picture perfect.  And all children, regardless of the challenges they face in their lives, need to see that failure, or exclusion, does not have to mean the end of your hopes and dreams.

Teaching Resources:
Sharon M. Draper's Website 
Lessons on Teaching Acceptance of Disabilities