1,134 words
9 minute read
26. One Child by Torey Hayden
Genre: Nonfiction
Disability Representation: Yes (multiple, but primarily selective mutism and trauma)
Rating: 2 Wheels
Age Range: 18+
Excerpt of Goodreads Summary: Sheila was wild, unreachable, abused--and a genius. She was a child lost until a brilliant young teacher reached out.
What I Thought: I still remember finding this book in a Barnes and Noble, completely by chance, back in 2004. I turned to Chapter 6, to check out how it was written, and I was hooked.
Since then, I've reread One Child countless times. And counted it as a favorite book. This time is the first read-through that things about the book bothered me:
Because it was published in the early '80s, the R-word was still commonly used. Also some instances came across for the first time as racist. Not to mention just how ill-equipped the author was at the age of 24 to handle a child with as much trauma as Sheila had.
In spite of all this, Sheila herself remains engaging as ever, and I love discovering things with her like flowers and lotion for the first time ever. But I had to seriously adjust my wheel-rating, which, at one point would have been 4 Wheels.
I can't give it that on good conscience anymore, but I still found myself liking the book.
27. The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Genre: YA
Disability Representation: Yes (selective mutism and main character could be read as autistic)
Rating: 3 Wheels
Age Range: 12+
Excerpt of Goodreads Summary: After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting--things don't just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door.
What I Thought: While the book as a whole wasn't one I might typically pick up and read, the storyline was engaging. I thought it was a unique take on childhood grief, and I really liked the ending.
28. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Genre: Historical Fiction
Disability Representation: No
Rating: 2 Wheels
Age Range: 18+
Excerpt of Goodreads Summary: Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.
29. Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
Genre: YA
Disability Representation: Yes (D/deaf, and unspecified learning disability)
Rating: 0 Wheels
Age Range: 12+
Excerpt of Goodreads Summary: In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his loud and boisterous family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister Gen is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just act normal so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends -- at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.
What I Thought: So many issues with this one: There's repeated (unaddressed) use of the R-word by a bully, the bully's (severely ableist, audist) perspective for several chapters. Valencia, who is D/deaf must rely on hearing aides and lip reading as the child of hearing parents, who was never taught sign language.
Virgil (who has unspecified learning disabilities) is repeatedly verbally assaulted and terrorized by the bully. He ends up in a life-threatening situation only to be rescued by other children. It is on him to stand up to the child who abuses him, and his family barely notices anything was amiss after Virgil disappeared for most of a day. Highly recommend skipping this one, especially if you're hoping for good disability representation.
30. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Genre: YA
Disability Representation: Yes (amputation and Cerebral Palsy)
Rating: 0 Wheels
Age Range: 12+
Excerpt of Goodreads Summary: 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?
What I Thought: If I was rating the first two parts of this book? I'd have given it 3 to 4 Wheels easily. I felt the representation was refreshingly authentic.
But parts 3 through 5 seriously dropped the ball. What had the potential to be a rare strong piece of representation by a nondisabled author who did her research devolved (in my opinion) into nothing more than inspiration porn.
Jessica and Rosa (who has CP) never formed an authentic friendship. Instead their interactions were academic and glossed over. Their connection to each other felt more like a transaction (Rosa helping Jessica pass algebra II and Jessica helping Rosa achieve what she wanted, but never really showed Jessica getting to know Rosa as a person.)
What was worse is that Jessica was constantly and consistently exploited by peers and the news media as an object of inspiration and when the public started to recognize her (as inspiration porn) she thanked them and used it to push her. (Which, again, in my opinion, is a totally nondisabled take on a common issue in disability culture, and damaging to boot.)
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