Deaf Child Crossing

Matlin, Marlee. Deaf Child Crossing. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Divison, 2002.

This book is about two young girls who couldn’t be any more opposite. Cindy just moved into the neighborhood and becomes friends with Megan. When she moves in Megan introduces herself to Cindy and shortly after Cindy realizes that Megan is actually deaf. These two people are complete opposites in respect to personality, emotions, and characteristics. Despite their differences they cherish each other’s friendship and consider themselves best of friends. They go to camp and go through a hard time in their friendship when they seem to drift a part when there is another deaf girl paired to punk with them.

This book focuses on the struggle to maintain relationships with friends while growing up. In order to spicen things up throughout the book Marlee Matlin incorporates a deaf person into the equation. Deaf Child Crossing is written in a way that makes the reader feel that they are sitting right there in front of the scene witnessing what is exactly going on and being able sympathize with the characters. This book is easily relatable to younger readers who are figuring our friendships, themselves, and learning about ways of coping with being deaf.

I have a sister – my sister is deaf

Peterson, Jeanne Whitehouse. I have as sister – my sister is deaf. Illus. Ray Deborah. New York: Harper Collins, 1977.

This book is written in a light hearted perspective of a girl who has a deaf little sister. The main character discusses her life experiences with a deaf sister and some of the things her sister goes through on a daily basis. The main character really describes her deaf sister in a positive portrayal. She emphasizes that being deaf isn’t a bad thing and doesn’t physically hurt a person; it’s just a different way of living. One thing she emphasizes is that even though her sister is unable to speak she does a better job then anyone revealing her thoughts and emotions through actions and expressions.

This book really tackles the fact that being deaf should not be looked at as a disadvantage in life or being less fortunate. Being deaf is just different and there are many things the deaf individuals excel at even though they are unable to hear. For example; in this book the deaf little sister is able to notice quick small movements within the grass because of her sharp vision. The book really explains to the reader what a deaf individual experiences on a daily basis to better develop their knowledge on the issue. I think it’s important for readers to understand the lifestyle of deaf individuals so they won’t look at their hearing loss but the characteristics that they have and develop. Overall, I felt the book really gave the reader a sense of what life was like for a deaf individual and also what it is like to be surrounded my a deaf person and the means of communication that needs to be present.

Amelia Lends a Hand

Moss, Marissa. Amelia Lends a Hand. Middleton, Wisconsin: Pleasant Company Publications, 2002.

This book is about a young girl, Amelia’s, attempt to befriend her neighbor. She struggles to start hanging out with him because he ignores her request to come over and play with him. She soon finds out that he was in fact not ignoring her but couldn’t hear her because he is deaf. Throughout the entire book the reader goes through the process of how Amelia tries to better their communication by her wanting to learn sign language as well as teaching him through what things meant comparison of sound and taste. This book was written in a very interesting way that many young readers can relate to. Marissa Moss writes the book in the format of note taking and uses colorful and detailed illustrations to support the text.

This book was very informative for both the deaf community as well as the hearing community. This is very important to be knowledgeable in because there are deaf individuals that people encounter in society everyday. If we don’t know how to communicate with those types of people then we wouldn’t be able to know when someone needs directions or to say something important etc. Being able to communicate with these different people will make them and society and better and safer place. The colorful illustrations are enough to keep a reader engaged in the story. Although the story is written veered toward a younger age level I feel the story was written in a way that was straight to the point and easy for young readers to relate to.

Thoughts about Final Project

For my final project I think I am going to focus on physical disabilities or learning disabilities. My reasoning for researching these types of literature is because I feel it is important for people to be aware of the difficulties of these disabled people. Also, my major is in special education - learning disabilities so I obviously have a passion for helping people with disabilities. There is nothing more satisfying then helping a child learn and making them feel loved for who they are and not always focusing on their physical or intellectual difference. After reading the requirements for the final project I was thinking it would be interesting to search different authors to read about their different views and perspectives on disabilities.

Confessions of a Closet Catholic

The text “Confessions of a Closet Catholic” refers to a young girl striving to find herself and struggling to figure out what exactly she believes in religiously. In order for Jussy to find what exactly she believes in she researches and experiments with different religious than Judaism. She reads about Hinduism and Buddhism as well has practices Catholicism. Her eagerness to be Catholic goes as far as her pouring out her sins to “Father Ted,” her stuffed teddy bear. Jussy does this while wearing her mother’s white napkin on her head to resemble a nun, and taking grape juice and matzo for communion.

My question toward the text was “Do you think the author used “chocolate” as a metaphor to represent Jussy’s search for her religious or self-identify viewpoint throughout the text?” Throughout the novel Sarah Darer Littman made reference to chocolate. I wondered while I was reading if this had any significance toward her religious beliefs or search for self-identity. A passage that I concentrated on was on the first page, page 3, when Jussy is saying she would rather give up being Jewish then chocolate like Mac is doing. Do you think her inability to give up chocolate refers to her borderline feelings about her faith or denote her being uneducated on Judaism and doesn’t really know what she believes? Another example is on page 122-123, when Jussy is explaining how she hasn’t eaten chocolate since Bubbe died and is willing to give it up for the rest of her life. Does this symbolize her growth as a person? Was Bubbe the person that helped her find her self-identity because she listened to her and loved her? Has Bubbe’s death made Jussy realize her true spiritual beliefs? And lastly, look on page 184 when she thinks about resorting back to eating brownies. Does her urge to want brownies symbolize that people always question their beliefs and there isn’t always one clear cut answer? Or does it stand for her not fully have found her self-identity completely and that she is accepting that?

Schneider Book Award

There is not an official website for the Schneider Family Book Award, but there are other resources that provide information about the award; such as www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneidercriteria.htm and www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardmanual.doc . The second link is a manual. It answers questions about the history of the award, discusses the responsibilities of the members of the committee, and provides insight to their ideas about what to look for in a good book. This is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life. The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences. Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm

Response to "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'"

After reading "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry in the Lansing State Journal I found myself having mixed feelings about the issue. I can understand the Muslims concern about the outlook it may have on them being represented as terrorists in the series 24, and how they may feel uncomfortable going out in public based on all that has occured here in the United States dealing with terrorist attacks. But my main issue with that is that it's pretty clear to the audience that this television show is fictional. Some people I feel do take some shows literally and to heart, but for the most part society knows reality from fiction. If these Muslims are afraid to go out in public I don't feel that it is because of the story line of 24 but in fact the incidents that has occurred in the United States. For example, Sireen Sawaf from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council says that she is a big fan of 24 and she replies"It's a great show, and I do realize it's a multiimensional show that portrays extreme situations." She continues to support the fact that 24 has used other ethnicities besides Muslim when she states "They have gone out of their way to have non-Muslim terror cells." So in no way do I feel that 24 was trying to represent Muslims as evil and being very dangerous. Also, 24 has incorporated many different ethnicities and religions throughout their series such as Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and Anglo-American citizens. If their purpose was to portray this hidden messages to Americans about all these different kinds of ethnicities and religious groups as being dangerous then why has there not been more controversy about this television show. There are many movies and television shows that portray certain cultures in a negative way just for entertainment, most people don't take it seriously. If that were true then we wouldn't be able to have most of our movies or television shows out there because we would be generalizing every group out there. Some movies have black african american boys murdering people, and caucasian boys robbing banks. This isn't to say that all the boys from both ethnicities are going to follow in those footsteps and be criminals but it is a fact that crimes like that have occurred. Bad things happen in all areas of the world, no matter what the culture or ethnicity is and it's in the hands of the audience to be able to say that the way the people in particular movies or television shows are shown is not a clear depiction of all the people within that group. Overall, I believe that people are taking things shown on television way to seriously and aren't seeing it as entertainment anymore.

Information from "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry.