#1 - The Deaf Musicians

Seeger, Pete and Duboise Jacobs, Paul
The Deaf Musicians
G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 2006

The Deaf Musicians is about a man named Lee. He played the piano and was very involved in music. He was a part of a band until his band mated noticed that his music was a little bit off. He had to tell them that he was losing his hearing, and when they found this out, one man said, “Who will listen to a deaf musician?” Lee then started going to a school for the deaf and here he found people who were deaf like him but who also had a passion for music. Lee made a new band of three deaf people who communicated through sign language, and one sing language interpreter, who sang for the band. Everyone loved Lee’s band’s music, even his old band mate who told Lee that no one would listen to his music.

Seeger and Duboise Jacobs discuss an issue of deafness that often isn’t discussed very much. They tackled a topic that dealt with a person’s passion instead of a topic of a deaf person having to learn sign language. This story never looked down on deaf people, but rather illustrated what people could do when they had a passion for something like music. The authors paint a great picture that things that someone loves doesn’t have to be given up when they find out they are losing their hearing. Instead of Lee giving up on music, he changed and adapted music to his new lifestyle. Seeger was knowledgeable about the topic of deafness because his father was deaf and every year he participates in a music festival where there are sign language interpreters. I would recommend this novel not only to families where there might be a deaf child, but to all families. It is a book of hope and inspiration that shows what can be done when you have such a passion for something.

#2 - Ceana Has CP

Card, C. Fran
Ceana Has CP
Royal Blue Books. 2006.

Ceana Has CP is a story about a little girl who has Cerebral Palsy. The novel describes a day in the life of Ceana and how her day is like any other child’s day. Throughout the descriptions, the reader gets a glimpse of what CP is and how it affects Ceana’s life. At the end of the story, the author encourages you to see Ceana just as you would see any other child her age.

Card delves into the topic of Cerebral Palsy by describing how children affected with this disease are just like every other child their age. She weaves information about how Ceana is different into the story in a way that informs the reader about the disease, but also doesn’t make it the forefront of the story. The author wanted to make the disease a part of Ceana’s life, not her whole life, and she does a great job of showing this. This story is about Card’s actual granddaughter and she has worked with children with different diseases all her life. She has a lot of knowledge about the topic and wanted to share that knowledge with the world, especially children. This is a great book to give to small children. Although it does give information about the disease, it also does so in a very simplistic way. The book is aimed for children ages 3-7, and I would stick with that age group. This story was a fun look into the life of a little girl who has CP.

# 3 - Ian's Walk: A story about Autism

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

Ian’s Walk is about a little boy with Autism and his sister who has to watch over him on a trip down to the pond. During this trip, Ian doesn’t do things like everyone else does. He likes to sniff the brick wall instead of a bouquet of flowers. When Ian’s sister gets fed up with the fact and Ian isn’t acting “normal,” she accidentally stops watching him, and Ian runs off. Ian’s sister starts to panic and looks every where for Ian. Ian is finally found at one of his favorite places at the park. On the walk home, Ian’s sister lets him do things the way he wants to do them, and she doesn’t get embarrassed of the way he is acting.

Lears describes the disease of autism in a way that children might understand. The book was an interesting way to show children what one aspect of autism is about and how children with autism might be a little bit different than other children. The author wanted to show how sometimes it is hard to get used to the fact that these children act differently, and their siblings might get annoyed by this. By showing how each child has something to offer, even the children with autism, it shows children that it is okay to be different. Lears gives children a story about a little boy who has autism and what a typical day might involve. Because she is an insider, she is very knowledgeable about the subject of Autism. She can provide an accurate portrayal of what a day in the life of a child with Autism is like.

Meeting Outside of Class

I really enjoyed meeting outside of class to discuss the book "confessions of a closet catholic." out group met at our normal time and had a good discussion about this book and i found it very interesting. i liked that we got right into the book and into the questions that people had written about in their questioning the text papers. we didn't have the same questions so i found that we had a lot to discuss.

i also liked it becuase we got to focus on the book and there wasn't a time limit placed on our meeting. we all knew that we wanted to discuss the book fully and get everyone's ideas out into the discussion. even though when we talk in class it isn't that formal, i found that meeting outside of class was less formal and i enjoyed this a lot.

maybe next semester this could be worked in for one book because i really enjoyed it and i would have liked to do it again if it would have been possible!

dana

Group Discussion about "The Confessions of a Closet Catholic"

I found our discussion of this book very interesting. During our discussion, the main focus revolved around the portrayal of her parents as holocaust survivors. We had a good discussion about how she wanted to become a catholic and how her parents didnt like the fact that she was going to become a catholic when her grandparents were survivors of the holocaust.

i think it was a valuable disucssion because it opened my eyes to the fact that religion should be a person thing and no one should tell anyone what to do, even if it is sur parents.

an interesting point was the fact that her parents were so much against her becoming a catholic. they weren't into their religion so much and when she wanted to change her religion, they were so against it. it was also interesting that her grandmother was teh one person that was ok wiith her changing her religion and she was the person who was persecuted for the religion that she was. i think that it was interesting because she had to fight for her religion and then is ok with her granddaughter changing her religion. i think this emphasizes the fact taht relgion is a specific thing and shouldnt be forced on by anyone, even your parents.


our conversation outside of class was very interesting and i started looking at the book in a different light because of this meeting and discussion

Final Project Post

I just wanted to post about my final project and why i chose to do my final project on this specific topic. I am going to do my final project on disability. I chose this because my mom has a disability that she has had since she was a baby. i was wondering how much chiildren's literature was out there for students with disabilities. I know that this might have changed since the time my mom was a child, but i started thinking about this because i wnated to know if she ever saw a book with a child with a disability in it.

i think this is an important topic and i just wanted to explain why i chose the topic i did and i am very excited to see what i will find out about children's literature in regards to disabilities.

Sydney Taylor Award

The purpose of this Sydney Taylor Award is to encourage the publication of outstanding books of Jewish content for children. It spotlights books that are of the highest literary standards and includes authentic content of Judaism.

This award was created in 1968 under a different name, The Shirley Kavitz Children's Book Award. It was renamed the Sydney Taylor Award in 1978.

The style of the award has changed over the years. It originally awarded only one book per year. In 1981 they started recognizing two books per year, one picture book and one novel. There is a committee that carefully evaluates the books and selects a winner.

The criteria for the award includes:
Literary and artistic merit,
positive Jewish content and focus,
age appropriateness in terms of style, vocabulary, content, format, and illustration,
and accuracy.

2006 winners:
Younger reader: Hanukkah at Valley Forge by Steven Krensky illustrated by Greg Harlin
Teen winner: Julia's Kitchen by Brenda Ferber

Some honor award winners 2006 (young reader):
I Am Marc Chagall by Bimba Landmann
Rebecca's Journey Home by Brynn Olenberg Sugarman

When we went to the library to check out some of the Sydney Taylor Award books, there were not very many available. We found one younger read book and two juvenile fiction book (teen reader). One of the two teen reader books was checked out which made us happy! :) Unfortunately we didn't find the majority of the books listed on the website that won this award.

When looking up the Sydney Taylor Award on the internet we found no "official website" but there was information about it on the "Association of Jewish Libraries" website. When you go to this website you will find a long list of books that have either been awarded or honored in regards to this award.

please check out www.jewishlibraries.org for more info!