Looking Back at the Semester - Final Post

I came into this course looking for the answers to many questions that were left lingering after previous classes. My major goal for the semester was to become more comfortable with choosing diverse literature that accurately represented the diverse cultures and were also quality pieces of literature in all aspects. However, as the semester comes to the end I still find myself questioning what is good diverse literature, but I am questioning in a new way. This class showed me that it was okay to question and actually it may be worry some if I didn't question the literature I was presented with. This class taught me to ask the right questions. For example, how do generalizations and stereotypes play into the text, or how much does the author know about the culture. Although I feel that I have also been on the look out for stereotypes one key point I bring from this class is that some stereotypes have truth and the goal of looking at literature is deciding how those stereotype help to portray the characters and if they are positive or negative and most of all accurate. I think so many people, my self included, are so quick to jump to the accusation that stereotypes are all horrible and negative and although this often happens, it is not always the case.

I also wanted to discover where to look for diverse literature and I was surprised to find that these types of resources were at my reach, I just hadn't taken the time to look. I didn't know there was as much diverse literature published as there is and although some of that literature may not portray positive representations, there are still several books out there to discover and analyze in order to find diverse books to incorporate into the classroom. I found this most prominent as I was searching for books about persons with disabilities for my final project. I had so many options, the difficult part was finding those books that had positive representations and insider authors for books portraying persons with disabilities.

The big question for me as I leave is how am I going to incorporate all of the literature that I would like into my classroom? I feel that I have been presented with so many materials that would be great for the classroom but will cause controversy in many school districts that may be more close minded than others. I would love to say that I am going to be that teacher that pushes against the system and will risk my job to bring the literature that children need to experience into the classroom but will I really? I know that this is a goal of mine and something that I will strive very hard to meet but maybe it is more a question of when I will have the opportunity to make as big of an impact as I would like. I am going to earn my master degree in administration and I may wish to pursue a career as a principal after a few years of teaching. I feel like I would have a bigger impact if I were able to incorporate the acceptance of diverse literature into several classrooms rather than just one. However, I think that even a small step counts and the question of my job or my beliefs and passion for quality education will be addressed when I cross that bridge. I cannot answer that question now but I feel this class has made me feel more confident about myself and my abilities of sticking up for the literature that I believe in and I would like to think that I will make the right and most meaningful decision for my future students.

Text Set Reflection

At first I struggled to decide on a topic of focus for this assignment because I feel as if I could benefit from research into each of the categories of under represented literature. My decision to focus on persons with disabilities was influenced by my volunteer experience at the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. In my volunteer work I transcribed books into electronic versions for visually impaired students and I also read and scribed exams for those that needed assistance. As I began to think about the topic of persons with disabilities in literature, I thought back to the students I had worked with and wondered if they ever had literature in their classrooms growing up that they could see themselves in.

At first I thought it was going to be extremely difficult to even find literature depicting characters with disabilities. However, I was surprised to find that there were numerous books that I could choose from. The difficult part was finding books about persons with disabilities written by insider authors. There are very few persons with disabilities that actually write books for and about persons with disabilities. In order to find insider authors I had to do a lot of research to determine in what ways the authors were tied to the disabilities they were writing about. This is what took the most amount of time and what was the most frustrating about the project. Although I had several books to choose from, I was limited in my choices because of the amount of information I was able to find about the authors. Not all of the authors of the books I chose were relatives of persons with disabilities but all of the authors had dedicated their time as teachers and/or researchers and were motivated to understand the many aspects of the disabilities they were writing about.

As I began my critical reviews on each of the books I was struggling to determine what aspects I should focus on that would best inform me on the accuracy and authenticity of the book. I began searching the internet and found a great website that provided me with the information I was looking for. The website is called the Easter Seals Disability Services and the link to the information I used to assess the books for my text set is http://wi.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=WIMA_Avenues_ReadingOther Books.
Below are the criteria that the website provided:

Books should…
Promote respect and empathy for individuals with disabilities.
Use person first language.
Promote understanding and acceptance.
Depict individuals with disabilities as complete human beings with the same types of strengths and weaknesses as their peers.
Provide accurate information about disabilities.
Focus on similarities between people with disabilities and people without disabilities.
Show people with disabilities taking on diverse and active roles within the community.
Depict integrated schools, work places and communities.
Depict people with disabilities from different ethnic and racial backgrounds and from a variety of age groups.

Avoid books that…
Dwell on what people with disabilities can’t do, rather than on what they can.
Depict people with disabilities as victims or only as objects of curiosity or seek to evoke pity.
Depict ordinary actions and achievements as heroic when performed by a person with a disability.
Depict people with disabilities as helpless or always dependent on others to function in the world.
Use unacceptable disability related language.
Depict people with disabilities as passive observers who take no active role in schools or in their communities.
Fail to show people with disabilities participating in activities accurate for their age group

Following these criteria was a list of many books that depicted characters with disabilities. Along with the information about what to look for in books the site also provided links to teaching about disabilities as well as links about talking to parents of students with and without disabilities about persons with disabilities. This website provided me with background about persons with disabilities that went beyond the texts that I was reading and helped me to better evaluate the literature I had chosen.

I feel that the text set I have created is diverse within its own topic which was one of the goals I was hoping to reach. Each book portrays a person with a different disability which shows that even within a cultural group there are differences that need to be recognized. Not every person that has a disability has the same disability. By choosing a variety of books I feel my text set attempts to reflect more people within this cultural group. However, no matter what, the representation within the text set will be rather limited because there is no way 5 books could represent every individual within a cultural group but I feel my attempts to broaden my understanding of the differences within the culture is a step in the right direction. One thing that I learned from this assignment was that there are many different disabilities and degrees of disabilities within the world and I must come to the realization that even if I continue to build my collection I may not be able to cover every inch of the far reaching topic of persons with disabilities. What I liked about my final book selections was that each book steered away from generalizations by speaking about one specific person with a disability rather than persons with disabilities as a whole. This project was a great learning experience and a great tool that I can build on throughout my career as an educator. The experience I have gained has increased my confidence in my abilities to determine what is considered good diverse literature. Although I in know way consider myself an expert, I feel my motivation and commitment to understanding the process of selecting literature has made me better able to determine what an accurate and positive representation looks and sounds like.

Review of Professional Resource

Christensen, Nina. “What’s the difference? The depiction of Down syndrome in picture books”. Bookbird. Vol. 39, Iss. 1 (2991) pg.17-22

Nina Christensen explores the different ways that characters with Down syndrome are depicted in non-fiction and fiction picture books in her article What’s the difference? The depiction of Down Syndrome in picture books. Her article is divided into two different sections that describe characterizations that commonly occur in both non-fiction and fiction picture books. In each section, Christensen analyzes two picture books and points out different characteristic that can be used as a reference for what to look for and what to look out for in terms of the depiction of Down syndrome in picture books. She explains that although the number of picture books that depict characters with disabilities is increasing, “it is necessary to critically evaluate those that are available” (17). Christensen points out that picture books are often selected without much consideration of content because there is a need for these picture books in classrooms and libraries everywhere. Christensen cautions readers to be aware of the concept of “normality” and how it is directed at characters with disabilities. Christensen’s article is helpful in determining what to look for when evaluating picture books depicting characters with Down syndrome because she is able to point to specific issues. The questions she encourages to be asked are “What defines a subject as disabled and how is it represented through text and pictures that this person is different?” (17). She also asks who the target audience is as well as the “needs that the books are designed to meet” (17).

Christensen’s analysis of non-fiction picture books in her article helped in critically determining the quality of Alden Carter’s book, Big Brother Dustin. Christensen tackles the difficulty of using photographs to accompany the text in non-fiction picture books depicting children with Down syndrome. As in the book Winnie 3 which Christensen describes in her article, Big Brother Dustin does not present the disability explicitly in the text of the book. Instead, the author relies on the pictures to show that Dustin is different. The text describes Dustin doing “normal” things such as helping his parents around the house. In Christensen’s words, “while the text represents [him] as an ordinary [boy], the illustrations show in what respects the child with Down syndrome looks a little different” (17). Christensen explains that the problem with this is that the readers are receiving “two different versions of the same story” (18). This idea is crucial to the determination of quality literature depicting persons with disabilities because it is important to be realistic in portrayals. Books that give one representation of a child with Down syndrome or another disability as being “normal” or the same as every other person is false. An accurate representation describes similarities as well as the differences in order to bridge that gap of acceptance of disabilities. As pointed out in the critical review of Big Brother Dustin, Alden Carter does not include an author’s note to help supply more information about Down syndrome to readers. Where this may have been helpful to the story of Big Brother Dustin, Christensen points out that authors need to be aware of the message their note is actually portraying to readers. In the case of the book Winnie 3, aspects of the authors note were contradicting to the overall purpose of the book which was to portray that children with Down syndrome are like all other children yet they do the same things in different ways. The books aim was to bring a positive image to the disability but part of the author’s note emphasized the obsession with normalcy by referring to children with disabilities as a mysterious “they” and people without disabilities as “we”. What is important to pull from this fact is that a books portrayal of characters begins on the front cover and last long after the book has been shut. Although author’s notes can be beneficial to re-emphasize information and messages from the story, every word included in the note needs to undergo the same considerations that go into the choice for every word within the story itself.

Christensen also references the book, Soren er mongol by Mette Jorgensen in order to highlight aspects to look for within non-fiction picture books depicting characters with Down syndrome. Although Soren er mongol incorporates the use of photographs, the correlation between the text and the photographs is what makes the book a good representation. This book uses the text to describe the differences between Soren who has Down syndrome and other characters in the book that do not. Big Brother Dustin lacks in this aspect because the depiction of the character with Down syndrome is only present within the photographs. As Christensen points out, it is important to explain the differences between characters with Down syndrome and characters without Down syndrome and it is also important to describe the difficulties of the disability. Big Brother Dustin presents the family of the character with Down syndrome as being unproblematic, when in reality the family must deal with some sort of difficulty related to the disability. Books that tell only one side of the story fall to closely to the general public’s obsession with “sameness” when in actuality it is the differences in the world that spark critical thinking and give life to the world.

Christensen uses her descriptions of the books in her article to articulate the sameness obsession and emphasizes the need to include differences in books about persons with disabilities. Christensen closes her article by saying, “We speak a lot about diversity but tend to prefer sameness. Although a more tolerant attitude to questions of difference and working from a common ground is positive, it seems unfruitful and disagreeable to plead that there are no differences. Fortunately, people are different in many ways. And one of these is to be disabled. It is valuable to discuss these questions, to encounter different opinions, and to gain an understanding of points of difference” (22). Christensen confronts many of the issues that have been considered throughout our course in multicultural and diverse literature by pointing out that the differences in the world are what make the world interesting and worth talking about. The questions and concerns brought up in class have all been based around differences and if we begin to leave those differences out of diverse literature it will no longer be diverse. Children need to be able to see themselves within literature and if every character in literature is the same, no one will be able to see themselves because everyone has differences. Christensen brings up many valuable points within her article and encourages readers to think critically about the books they are reading. Not only does she encourage readers to be selective when choosing picture books depicting characters with Down syndrome but she also provides examples on how to be selective. Her use of examples within her article helps to drive home the article’s purpose. This article is a great reference tool that would be beneficial to know and understand.

My Buddy by Audrey Osofsky

Osofsky, Audrey. My Buddy. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1992.

Set in a contemporary American town, My Buddy takes readers on an eye opening adventure into the life of a boy and his service dog, Buddy. The unnamed main character is a young boy who has muscular dystrophy. The boy is a strong willed and independent minded person who wants nothing more than to be able to do things for himself. Although he is not ashamed of the help he receives from his friends and family, he knows that other people cannot be expected to help him every minute and he has the desire to take his life into his own hands. The boy meets Buddy for the first time at a camp where puppies are trained to become service dogs for people who need them. Buddy was at the top of his class in puppy school and continued his training with the boy at his side. Although the training was difficult and sometimes made the boy feel as if he wanted to give up, he knew that Buddy was worth the hard work and that in the end they would be the perfect pair. The boy and Buddy eventually made it through their training and Buddy became the service dog the boy always knew he could be. At first the other kids in school would point and talk about Buddy as he helped the boy with everyday activities such as retrieving books from high shelves, throwing away trash at lunch and even picking up dropped pencils. After a while the other kids in class stopped looking at Buddy as a pet and began to accept him as worker as the boy’s arms and legs. This courageous story of companionship is emphasized by the wonderful water color illustrations that accompany the text. The illustrations alone could tell the story and they also work to highlight emotions and details that cannot be read from the text alone. Although the text may be advanced for beginning readers, the illustrations are vivid enough to grasp a listener’s attention during a read aloud.

The author of My Buddy, Audrey Osofsky received her inspiration for this book from a young boy in her neighborhood who had muscular dystrophy and his dog. Seeing the interaction between the two friends made her want to learn more. Before beginning the book, Audrey Osofsky interviewed the boy from her neighborhood, his parents and also the North Central regional director for Canine Companions for Independence. Following her interviews she also spent time at her local library researching muscular dystrophy and its effects. Although Audrey Osofsky did not have muscular dystrophy, she is considered an informed, insider author because of her dedication to the research needed to accurately portray the character who had the disability. Audrey Osofsky’s illustrator, Ted Rand was inspired by a newspaper article he read about a boy and his service dog and also researched the topic of muscular dystrophy in order to depict the characters with the utmost accuracy. Along with having a informed, insider author, this book also had an informed, insider illustrator.

The fact that the boy in the story has muscular dystrophy is clearly stated in the beginning pages of the book which allows readers to understand what they are reading about. The boy in the story is not ashamed of his disability but is instead portrayed as confronting his disability in a “matter of fact” way. The book is written from the first person perspective of the boy and there are several times throughout the book that he addresses that he can not do all of the things that other kids without muscular dystrophy can do. He explains how Buddy helps him by carrying out tasks the boy cannot do alone. However, although the boy is portrayed as needing help from his service dog, he is not portrayed as helpless. He is never seen as being upset by his disability nor do his explanations of the way he functions with the help of Buddy leave the reading feeling sorry for him. The book shows living with a disability in a positive light and can be inspirational to those effected the same or similar disability. This book helps readers accept the fact that persons with disabilities can do the things that kids without disabilities can do, but they do them in different ways. The fact that the book points out the “can do’s” and “can not’s” makes My Buddy a positive and accurate representation of a piece of multicultural literature portraying persons with the disability muscular dystrophy.

Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher

Cowen-Fletcher, Jane. Mama Zooms. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1993.

Mama Zooms is an across town adventure that is sure to capture the attention of readers. The bright colors and detailed pastel and colored pencil illustrations tell most of the story with the text poetically flowing as captions. The young narrator shares the many adventures he and his mother take on her zooming machine, her wheel chair. The story follows the boy and his mother as they travel to different places around the town. The creative and caring boy uses his vivid imagination to turn everyday errands into something special. From zooming down the street as a race car, to zooming down the boardwalk as a wave, the zooming machine is the best way to get the boy and his mother to where they need to go. However, even though the boy’s mother has a zooming machine that makes her a race car, a wave, a train and an airplane, the boy is happiest when his Mama is just his Mama. The simple text is great for beginning readers and the illustrations are detailed enough to help infer the meaning of unknown words. The illustrations, which each take up a full page, are the primary focus of the book. The depictions of facial expressions and body language in the illustrations establish the emotions and feelings of the characters that are not explicitly mentioned in the text. The illustrations allow the reader’s imagination to fill in the gaps and questions that are left by the text. Mama Zooms is great for encouraging creativity and imagination in young readers and provides a starting ground for beginning readers to learn how to get involved in a book they are reading as well as exposing them to a way of doing things that they may not know much about.

Jane Cowen-Fletcher, author and illustrator of Mama Zooms, based this book on the interactions between her nephew and her sister who is in a wheel chair. The close connection and interaction with a family member in a wheel chair makes Jane Cowen-Fletcher an informed, insider author who is able to accurately portray the relationship that can exist between a woman in a wheel chair and her son. Jane Cowen-Fletcher shows the interpretation of living with a disability through the eyes of a young boy. What is important about the portrayal is that the mother is not glorified for her ability to carry out everyday activities such as going to the beach or traveling down the street. Instead, the boy’s imagination of his mother as different forms of transportation shows that it is not a horrible thing to have a mother in a wheel chair, but in fact it is an adventure. What makes the story accurate is that the way the boy views his mother’s disability is reflected in the ways children of that age view the world. Everything is something more than it is when children are young because their imaginations are strong. What is well done about this book is that the mother is not only shown doing things that are in her capabilities. She is also seen needing help when her family is at a park and she needs to be pushed up a hill because she cannot move up the hill by herself. Although she is seen needing help the illustrations still show a smile on her face and her family’s faces which implies to the readers that it is not shameful to need help nor is it a burden, but in the situation it is how the mother functions. The fact that people in wheel chairs need help in certain situations is something that should not be looked over. This book does a great job of incorporating both things that persons with disabilities can and cannot do. Jane Cowen-Fletcher does not separate the mother’s disability from her life nor does it show the mother’s disability getting in the way. Instead the mother is seen carrying out everyday activities and taking ownership of her disability as part of her identity. She is not ashamed but still knows the extent of her abilities and she seems to be portrayed as being happy with her life and her family. One part of this book that is especially inspiring is when the boy says that his mother has strong arms from all her zooming and it shows him sitting on her flexed arm. This illustration makes the strong statement that people who use wheel chairs are not weak and they are not helpless. This is a great positive message that needs to be stated for all to hear. This book would make a considerable contribution to any library and offers insight into a way of life that many never take the time to get to know.

I'm Deaf and It's Okay by Lorraine Aseltine, Evelyn Mueller and Nancy Tait

Aletine, Lorraine, Mueller, Evelyn, and Tait, Nancy. I’m Deaf and It’s Okay. Morton Grove: Albert Whitman & Company, 1986.

I’m Deaf and It’s Okay shows readers an inside view of the frustration, struggle and happiness that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing face every day. The unnamed main character and narrator is deaf and uses hearing aides to help him better understand hearing individuals so that he can effectively communicate with them. The narrator explains that being deaf can be scary and that it takes great courage to overcome some of the difficulties deaf people and those that are hard of hearing face when interacting with society. The pencil sketched illustrations emphasize the range of emotions that the narrator experiences in different situations throughout the book. The illustrations also highlight the use of American Sign Language (ASL) by characters in the book including the narrator. The text and illustration work well together to create a full understanding of the situations the narrator is faced with. At times the narrator gets frustrated because he cannot communicate with his classmates completely and he feels left out. He also feels angry when he thinks other characters, such as his sister, get more attention from other people because they have better hearing. After seeing many adults communicating without the use of ASL and hearing aides, the narrator begins to believe that one day he will be like them and will not have to rely on his hearing aides for communication, he will be able to hear like everyone else. The illustrations work well to show the devastation that the narrator feels when his parents and teachers tell him that he will always need his hearing aides in order to communicate. The narrator hates the thought of never being able to hear without his hearing aides until a special teenager, Brian, who is also deaf and uses hearing aides, helps the narrator to understand that it is okay to be deaf. Brian shows the narrator and other young deaf children that he can still live his life much like other teenagers. He can drive a car, he can play sports, he has a job and he has many friends. Brian befriends the narrator and in doing so, shows him that even though it may be hard being deaf, it is not the end of the world. The narrator eventually learns to accept his deaf identity and begins to look at his life in a more positive way.


What makes I’m Deaf and It’s Okay an interesting book is that it is written by three different women. Lorraine Aseltine taught for seventeen years in which she worked with deaf and hard of hearing students. She has a Masters degree in deaf education and has a lot of experience in the field. Evelyn Mueller also has her Masters degree but in speech and hearing science. She worked along side Lorraine Aseltine at Pleasant Lane School in Lombard, Illinois where she has been working as a speech/language therapist for 6 years. Nancy Tait is the mother of a deaf teenager and serves as a preschool aide in a hearing-impaired classroom. Each of these women have substantial knowledge and personal experience in working within the deaf culture and together they form a remarkable team of insider authors. What sets this book apart from other books on the topic is that the authors were not afraid to dive into the hard issues and frustrations that deaf and hard of hearing individuals face. They point out the hurt that can occur from not being able to talk on the telephone like hearing individuals. They show the misinterpretation that can be receives when deaf or hard of hearing individuals cannot understand a conversation they see taking place. In the book there is a situation where the boy watches a group of his peers talking and laughing but cannot hear what they say. He gets angry and assumes they are talking about him only to realize they are only talking about Halloween. Misinterpretations like this can occur within everyday activities for deaf and hard of hearing individuals because they may not always understand that the communication taking place in their surroundings. The book explains the fear that deaf and hard of hearing individuals can face when they don’t fully understand their surroundings. The book also explains that deafness and hearing impairments are not something that can always be or need to be “fixed”. As the character of Brian helps to point out, although it may be ideal for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to eventually have the ability to hear, it may not always be a possible change but that is not necessarily a bad thing. This book shows the struggles that deaf and hard of hearing individuals face but it does not make the readers feel sorry for them. Although there are times when the boy is seen as being sad, there are almost equal situations in which the boy is happy and positively interacting with the hearing people around him. What is appreciated about this text is that the authors do no depict the life of deaf and hard of hearing individuals as easy or exactly the same as hearing individuals. The book points out subtle as well as obvious differences between the ways that deaf/hard of hearing individuals and hearing individuals function within their society. The three authors use their personal experience and knowledge to create a positive and accurate portrayal of deaf individuals in diverse literature.

Ian's Walk: A Story about Autism by Laurie Lears

Lears, Laurie. Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism. Mortan Grove: Albert Whitman & Company, 1998.

It is a beautiful summer day in Julie’s small town neighborhood and she is ready to go to the park with her older sister Tara. However, Julie is not happy that her little brother Ian wants to come too. As the three leave the house Julie is responsible for watching Ian and holding his hand. Ian stops frequently to look at various objects around the town, which frustrates Julie because she cannot understand what it is that Ian hears and sees that grasps so much of his attention. Julie’s impatience grows but she tolerates Ian because as she points out, Ian’s brain doesn’t work like other people’s brains and he sees things differently because he has Autism. The wonderful watercolor illustrations lead the readers through the journey from the downtown diner to the park. Once the three siblings reach the park, Julie turns her head for just a brief second and when Tara returns from buying pizza she asks where Ian is. Julie realizes she has lost her littler brother. Tara and Julie begin a frantic search around the park, calling Ian’s name and asking strangers if they have seen him. Julie uses her creativity and knowledge and decides the best way to find Ian is to think like him. She starts to remember all the things that he likes and after hearing the faint sound of a bell she realizes Ian is in his favorite spot, under the large bell making the gong move back and forth to create the sound that he loves. The fear of losing her little brother makes Julie realize how special Ian is to her and that even though he may get on her nerves, he is special to her in so many ways. On the way home from the park, Julie lets Ian stop where ever he likes and lets him do all the things that seem so crazy to her. Julie tries to appreciate the different ways that Ian thinks, after all, it was thinking like Ian that helped her find her most special little brother. The illustrations capture the interaction between the characters and their emotions that the text alone cannot describe. The words act like captions for the wide spread illustrations that cover most of the space on each page. The text is designed for more advanced early readers, however the story told through the illustrations makes the picture book great for any age. Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism, would be a great choice for a read aloud.

Laurie Lears, author of Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism, got her inspiration for this book from the many students in her class. For much of her career, Laurie Lears has worked as a special education teacher working primarily with students with Autism. She has seen the effects Autism has on the lives of her students and she has also seen how families can also be affected. Laurie Lears’ understanding of Autism and her daily interaction with those who are affected by Autism make her an informed insider author. Before the story begins there is a note about Autism that explains the extra challenges that families with Autistic children undertake in their day to day lives. The note focuses on how other children in the household deal with, and react to, the needs of their sibling. The note, written by psychologist Doctor Carol Rolland and Doctor Kay McGuire, explains that siblings of autistic children may feel anger and embarrassment about the disability. Sometimes these emotions are more prominent because autism is hard to explain to those who are unfamiliar with it. The note says “The healthy siblings learn valuable lessons of responsibility, compassion, and toleration of differences. They grow to understand that while life is not perfect, it is still good” (first page). The story seems to follow this theme throughout. Written through the eyes of Julie, the sister of a child with autism, the story shows the frustrations and struggles that Julie undergoes as she begins to understand how special her brother is. What is good about this book is that the author does not diminish Ian for being autistic. He is portrayed as thinking and doing things differently from other children without autism which is a crucial aspect of accurately portraying persons with disabilities in literature. The book describes the things Ian can do but does not glorify him for his actions. Ian is seen doing the similar activities that children without autism do, such as going to the park, smelling flowers, and playing. But what makes this book accurate is that Ian notices different things and hears different sounds as he walks to the park. He smells the flowers differently than his sister Julie and he plays in different ways as well. The author does not evoke pity for Ian but portrays him as a person first and also someone who has a disability . This book is great for siblings wanting to understand their brother or sister with autism because it shows them that it is ok to feel the way they do but they need to realize that autism does not make their sibling less of a person. Julie’s transformation throughout the book can inspire readers to want to make a similar change in their views on autism. Although the book does not aim to explain why autistic children act in the different ways they do, it does aim to show that those differences are okay and should be embraced as part of a persons identity. Their differences make them unique and interesting individuals that happen to have a disability. This book shows the importance of the acceptance of persons with disabilities and portrays a character with autism in a very positive and accurate light.

Big Brother Dustin by Alden Carter

Carter, Alden. Big Brother Dustin. Morton Grove: Albert Whitman & Company, 1997.

Based on the true experience of a young boy with Down syndrome, Big Brother Dustin explains the thoughts and feelings that young children often have when expecting a new sibling. Dustin is a helpful and thoughtful young boy who spends the months before the arrival of his new baby sister trying to discover the perfect name for her. The real photographs that accompany the text bring this non-fiction picture book to life. Dustin has his first great idea to name his new sister after his grandmother Mary but then decides that this may not be the greatest idea because it might make his other grandmother feel sad. Dustin continues to help his parents prepare for the big day by folding laundry and hanging the mobile in his sister’s crib. He even takes a class at the hospital on how to be a good sibling so that he can be the best big brother a little girl could ask for. At the class Dustin meets Barbra Ann, which starts Dustin thinking of names again. He likes the name Ann because it is his other grandmother’s name and he thinks maybe he could name his sister Ann Mary, but it just did not seem right. Finally, days before the arrival of his new baby sister Dustin discovers the perfect name. His sister will be Mary Ann. The name could not have been thought of at a better time. For soon, Dustin was at the hospital being the perfect big brother to the perfect little baby with the perfect name, Mary Ann. Although the text provides a lot of dialog between Dustin and his family, much can be taken from the photographs, including the fact that Dustin has a disability.

Alden Carter, author of Big Brother Dustin conducted much research before writing the book. After focusing on Down syndrome and finding as much information on the disability as he could from the resources available, Alden Carter met with a family that had a child with Down syndrome. Alden Carter based the dialog for the book after the interactions he witnessed between the boy with Down syndrome and the rest of his family. Alden Carter followed the family through the experiences depicted in the book. At the end of the book Alden Carter shows pictures of Dustin carrying out various activities and below each pictures gives a caption using the words that the boy used to describe that action. The time and effort of research and interaction with the family and the boy with Down syndrome make Alden Carter an informed, insider author who attempts to create a positive portrayal of Down syndrome within literature. Alden Carter never explicitly points out that Dustin has Down syndrome and this fact is gained through the physical characterization of Dustin in the pictures. By not describing Dustin as having Down syndrome in the text, Alden Carter is attempting to put the person first which is a main goal for the representation of persons with disabilities within literature. Alden Carter may not be trying to avoid the fact that Dustin has Down syndrome but he is relying on the pictures to tell the rest of the story. Good picture books let the text and the illustrations or pictures inform each other and each provides pivotal information to the story. However, the pictures and the text should tell the same story and in Big Bother Dustin the reader is hearing two different versions of the same story. One through the text in which Dustin is a boy just like every other boy and another through the pictures in which Dustin is different from other “normal looking” children. Although the text of Big Brother Dustin can be read as any kid carrying out the activities, the pictures show how Dustin carries out activities differently than other children. Children who have Down Syndrome view the world and react differently to the world than children without Down Syndrome and the break down of Dustin’s thoughts through dialog helps to show a few of these differences. Even though Alden Carter is attempting to show the differences and similarities that exist between people with and without Down syndrome, the book is lacking a complete explanation of Down syndrome that may help readers understand the disability and how those that have Down syndrome function within society. This book may be great for those that have an understanding of Down syndrome and/or know someone who has Down syndrome. However, someone who is unfamiliar with the disability may have trouble picking up on subtleties within the book. It would have been helpful to have an author’s note that explained some of the characteristics of Down syndrome explicitly for readers. It could easily be interpreted that this book depicts people who have Down syndrome as having only physical differences than people without it, but it does not seem that this was the intention of the author. In order for this book to be completely accurate it would seem appropriate that readers of any age should be able to pick up this book and see how they are different and similar to people with Down syndrome, physically as well as emotionally and mentally. Although this book has many great aspects, it is lacking crucial information that would undoubtedly push this book over the line of a good representation of persons with disabilities within multicultural literature.

An interesting site about persons with disabilities.

As I pointed out in my last post, my focus for my final project is on the representation of persons with disabilities in literature. During my research on the topic I came across an interesting site called Easter Seals Disability Services. What first caught my attention was that above their list of children's books depicting characters with disabilities, they had a list of book characteristics to look at in deciding what determined a quality representation of persons with disabilities within literature. One of the main qualities was person first representation and also to show that although there are similarities between persons with and without disabilities it is important to not leave out where there are differences. It is also important not to portray characters with disabilities as deserving pity but it is also important not to identify them as heroes by glorifying their ability to carry out everyday activities. One thing to look for in book depicting characters with disabilities is to make sure there are positive representations and that what persons with disabilities can AND cannot do are represented in a positive way. I found this site very beneficial as I was critiquing my books for my final project. I think one thing that jumped out to me was depicting the differences between persons with and without disabilities. I guess I don't know why I wouldn't have thought that this concept wasn't crucial to books about persons with disabilities because in order to accurate portray the characters you have to talk about the differences. I can see now why it may be offensive to see persons with disabilities depicted as the same as everyone else because it can seem as if the disabilities is trying to be covered up. I continued browsing the site and I found many different resources that would be beneficial for others to check out. There was a section on myths about persons with disabilities and also resources for parents and teachers. I think a site like this is creates a place where persons with disabilities can grasp that cultural aspect of their lives and it is a place that shows them in a positive light to those without that cultural connection. It makes me a little more at ease to know that there are sites like this available for the entire world to see.

What's up with our libraries?

I was a bit disturbed last weekend when I went to my hometown library to find my last book for my final project. I had decided to focus on literature depicting characters with disabilities because growing up I don't remember this being an emphasis. I do vaguely remember reading books about cultures other than my own but I had never really been exposed to issues of persons with disabilities. The school I went to had quite a few disabled students but I still don't remember exposure to this particular culture. When I was home, I went to our public library. I had a list of books that I thought would be useful for my project but for some reason I couldn't find any of them in the library catalog. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, surely I was since I hadn't been to that library in years but when I asked the librarian I got a blank stare. The response I got not only shocked me but it bothered me quite a bit. They didn't have the books I was looking for because no one read them. I decided to look at the children's section and based on the librarians response I was not surprised to find every Disney story ever made and even some of the books we identified in class as being not very good representations of multicultural literature. It was disturbing to me because this was my hometown. These were the books that students, my little sisters included had access to. It especially bothered me that there were not books depicting persons with disabilities because there were so many students with disabilities that I went to school with. I was disappointed. It makes it so difficult to try to figure out how you are going to incorporate diverse literature into a classroom when there are some libraries that don't even make that effort. I feel that libraries and teachers need to set an example. What teachers present and what libraries provide are what students have easy access to. Many parents in my town send their children to the library when they have to work or have something to do. If all students are seeing are Disney books I think we need to reevaluate how we present literature to students. I know this is only one district but how many more districts are like mine. I am not saying that the school district is bad, I received a great education which prepared me very well for college. I am disappointed in one major area. This just makes me feel as if the challenges I have ahead of me are going to be harder than I originally thought. I have always felt like progress was being made in terms of the incorporation of multicultural literature but maybe that is just what I think because I am making the effort to broaden my own experience and knowledge in the subject. Maybe things will change, hopefully, I guess it is going to take one person at a time. Everyone in class, lets have this begin with us.