Reflections Post

Due to my major being Special Education, I was interested in reading literature about persons with disabilities. I enjoyed reading all four books which I reviewed. They all dealt with issues of diversity in a positive manner and vividly depicted the struggles and challenges one deals with. When I went to the East Lansing Public Library there was an assortment of books to choose from. However, I found many of the picture books to be distasteful and they did not portray disabilities in a positive light. The books I selected all had life lessons tied into the stories as well as optimistic experiences with the main characters.

There are many patterns which I found in all my books. With all the books I read I noticed all the characters struggles were displayed in the beginning of the novels. In half the books the main characters were ridiculed for their disabilities. As the stories progressed the characters were able to learn to overcome their challenges. For example, in the beginning of A Mango Shaped Space the main character was embarrassed and made fun of when she was unable to do a math problem in elementary school. She saw various colors and would not share these experiences with anyone. As the book progressed she embraced this occurrence and become comfortable talking about the colors and numbers. This incidence also happened in The Deaf Musicians. The main character was kicked out of his band and told that no one wanted to listen to a deaf musician. However he did not let them tear him down and stuck with the goal of becoming a musician. His friends ultimately apologized to him and realized how wrong they were.

The books as a whole set would be great to be used in my future classroom. I thought the writers all had great “insider” backgrounds on the subjects they talked about. Out of the two books where the individuals were deaf, I preferred reading The Deaf Musicians over I Have a Sister—My Sister is Deaf. I found the Deaf Musicians to have more of a plot and powerful life lesson intertwined into the story than I Have a Sister.

Lane, Glenna. Looking Out for Sarah. Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing, 2001.
Mass, Wendy. A Mango-Shaped Space. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003
Peterson, Jeanna. I Have a Sister – My Sister is Deaf. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.
Seeger, Pete, and Paul Jacobs. The Deaf Musicians. New York: G.P. Putman’s Sons, 2006.