Children's+Literature

media type="file" key="05 Granuaile's Dance.m4a" Below is a short list of Children's Literature containing main characters with various disabilities. These are just a few books with a focus on disabilities that I have thought about teaching with. There are countless books out there like the ones that you will find below, so if you don't see any that you like here, just Google!

**//1. I Have a Sister-My Sister is Deaf// (by: Jeanne Peterson)**  This book is one that I actually had in my personal library as a child - and I still have it. It is about a little girl who has a deaf sister. The little girl describes a few things that her sister cannot do, but she also lists many things that she can do, like: play the piano, dance, climb monkey bars, feel a dog’s bark or a radio’s vibrations, watch for deer, speak with her voice and her fingers, read lips, show emotions without words, and sleep through storms. The girl also describes what it is like being a deaf girl’s sister. She describes helping teach her sister to talk, explaining her sister’s condition to friends, playing with her sister, and wondering what it would be like if she was deaf.

There are many disabilities that children (much less adults) cannot relate to because there is no way to truly know what it is like to have that disability. There is also no way for anyone to truly understand what it is like to go through life completely deaf; however, this disability is easier for children to relate to since they //can// experience a level of quietness. When reading this book to my students for the first time, I would tell them the title of the book and then have them all wear earplugs while I actually read the book. (Just to make sure, I would actually only mouth the book). I would go through the entire book showing the pictures and mouthing the words. At the beginning, I would face them and mouth the words slowly, near the middle I would mouth the words faster and look away at times, and at the end, I would mouth slowly once more. I would have all of the students then take out their earplugs and tell me what happened in the book. I would specifically ask them about the middle and then discuss how that is how deaf people feel when they try to read lips and the speaker keeps speeding up or looking away. I would then read the book to them without the earplugs. This time, the class and I would discuss how, even though the sister was deaf, she did not miss out on any adventures that her sister went on. In fact, she was just like them when they were wearing the earplugs. 
 * 2. //Big Brother Dustin// (by: Alden R. Carter) [[image:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GXPXG4GNL._SL500_AA240_.jpg width="124" height="119"]]**

 This book is about a little boy with Down syndrome named Dustin. The book does not focus on his disability as much as it does with the issue of what it’s like to become a big brother. Dustin, in preparation for the new baby, goes to classes for new siblings and helps to prepare the baby’s new room. He also is responsible for helping to name the baby, which he has trouble with at first. He eventually comes up with the perfect name, though, and everyone thinks so.

I would read this book to the class and then ask if any of my students are big brothers or sisters. I would ask them if they got to help choose their new baby’s name. I would also ask if they helped to decorate the nursery, went to any new sibling classes, or were excited about the arrival of a new baby. We would then relate that Dustin did and felt the same things that many of them did and felt. He even did a great job picking out a baby’s name – which is a huge responsibility that not many of my students will even get. We would point out that maybe Dustin looks a little different, but he feels and does many of the same things that great big brothers do when preparing for a new baby. I might then go into further detail about how having a new baby is exciting, not scary if any of my students are about to become big brothers or sisters for the first time.

**3. //See the Ocean// (by: Estelle Condra) **

 This book is about a girl names Nellie who goes to the beach with her family every summer. Her brothers always play a game to see who can see the water first when they first arrive, but Nellie never joins in. Once they get to the beach each year, she plays in the water and sand and has a blast. Everything about Nellie and her family seems perfectly normal and happy – because they are. At the end of the book – which has a surprising twist, Nellie and her family are once again on their way to the beach. Her brothers for once cannot play their game due to a thick mist that they can’t see through. This time, Nellie chimes in saying that //she// sees the beach first. She goes on to describe the beach as an old man through beautiful literary terms. Her brothers won’t give her the win; they chime in “She can’t even see!” Their mother settles the dispute, however. “Though your sister's eyes are blind, she can see with her mind. ” I can see myself using this book in so many ways! For younger students, I could use this book to help them practice visualizing. I would have them close their eyes during Nellie’s description of the beach. I would then have a box with a hole in it that each child would reach inside to: feel the object inside, listen to it, and smell it. They would then close their eyes, visualize it, and try to describe what they think it looks like to them. I would tell them that it doesn’t have to be what it really is, just what you see when you close your eyes. Nellie didn’t really think the beach was a real old man, that is just how she visualized it.

For older students, I would use Nellie’s description as a great example of descriptive writing by reading it to the class. I would then have the students go and describe any scenery of their chouce trying to use as many details as Nellie did. I would tell them to focus on sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes (such as a salty beach), but not what they can see. Not only will this help them to become more sensitive to the blind, but it will also help them to become better, more detailed writers. Many students focus only on what they see when they write; this will force them to write using their other senses for details.
 * 4. ** ** //Thank you, Mr. Falker// (by: Patricia Polacco) [[image:http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:AdjGBOB1qHaO3M:http://www.mrbarnesonline.com/ThankYouMrFalker.jpg width="103" height="125"]]and[[image:http://www.lectorum.com/images/gracias-senor-falker.jpg]]**

 To be honest, this book makes me cry. Perhaps it is because I am an educator and I hope to impact a child’s life as greatly as Mr. Falker impacts Patricia’s life. With this book, Patricia Polacco, the author, is actually thanking a teacher who helped her with her difficulty learning to read (which was caused by dyslexia) in real life. In the story, Trisha is a girl who enters kindergarten wanting nothing more than to learn to read. She discovers, however, that although everyone else is becoming better and better readers as they get older, she has trouble with even the easiest words. She starts to hate school and hate reading and many students start to make fun of her. She manages to slide by without learning to read every year – until fifth grade. Her fifth grade teacher is Mr. Falker, and he sticks up for Trisha against the children being mean to Trisha. Once he finds out how little she can actually read, he begins to devote his time after school to help her learn how to read. For weeks and weeks he works with her after school and she believes that it is useless. Then, one day, she discovers that Mr. Falker was right all along, she can learn. I love this book, and I will read it to my classes every year. After reading it, we will discuss that everyone has difficulty in something because no one is perfect. I will share with the students that I have a hard time remembering names and numbers. If I don’t write them down right when I hear them, I will probably forget them. I will then ask students to volunteer what’s hard for them – whether it be a certain subject or a certain task. Then, I will tell the students that we all have something that we are good at, too. Then the students would all go around and say something that they are good at. Doing this will show the students with learning disabilities, those who just struggle in certain subjects, and those who seem to be good at many subjects that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and that no one is “dumb.”
 * 5. //Nathan's Wish: A Story about Cerebral Palsy// (by: Laurie Lears) [[image:http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/369/30896369.jpg width="113" height="126"]]**

This book is about a little boy with Cerebral Palsy. He lives next door to a woman who is a raptor rehabilitator (which means that she takes care of injured birds of prey). He wants to help her badly, but he feels confined in his wheelchair. One day, an owl with a broken wing named Fire comes into the rehabilitator’s care. Nathan wishes that Fire could fly, but when she tries, she cannot. Her wing will never be strong enough again. Nathan feels bad for fire who is so upset that she stops eating. Then, he comes up with an amazing idea that gives Fire a purpose in life and shows Nathan himself that being disabled does not mean that you are unable to help.  I would teach this book probably while studying owls or birds of prey. This would allow me to bring the science content area into a lesson. We could discuss what a raptor rehabilitator is, what owls eat and where they live, and discuss why an owl is not a good pet, of course. However, we would also talk about Nathan. I would ask the students if they ever felt like they we unable to help in a situation – maybe because their parents said that they were too little to help. I would then ask how it made them feel. This is how Nathan feels at first. Then I would ask them if they were ever able to help with something that no one else could – maybe they came up with that perfect solution. How did they feel? This is how Nathan and Fire felt when they realized that they really could help when no one else could despite having a difficulty – like having limbs that do not work or like being “too” small. With a conversation like this, the students could relate to Nathan’s feelings because they have all had feelings of helplessness, too. ** 6. //How Willie Got His Wheels// (by: Deborah Turner) **

**7.** **//Since We're Friends: An Autism Picture Book// (by: Celeste Shally)** 


 * //8. Tacos Anyone?/Alguien quiere tacos?// (by: Marvie Ellis)** [[image:http://www.autismbookstore.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000008/btac01.jpg width="126" height="120"]]