LISTEN and IN THE BLUE- Award Winning Picture Books Exploring the Disability Experience

Continuing with my theme for 2023 of sharing stories about perseverance, today I'm looking at award winning picture books exploring the disability experience. 

Every January the American Library Association (ALA) announces its most prestigious awards at its Midwinter Conference. These include the Caldecott, the Newbery, and the Printz Medals. In addition, there are several lesser known categories of winners that appeal to specific interest groups. One of these is the Schneider Family Book Award which honors an author or illustrator for "... the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." There are three categories for ages 0-8, 9-13, and 14-18.

The 2023 winner of the Young Children's (0-8) category was Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion written by Shannon Stocker and illustrated by Devon Holzwarth.

Evelyn loved music from a very young age. When she was eight, she could play songs on the piano by ear. At ten she tackled the clarinet. But soon she began to lose her hearing. A doctor told the family that the nerves in Evelyn's ears were degenerating. By the time she was eleven, she could barely hear the phone ring, but there was something she could hear - percussion. She loved the marimba, the timpani, and the snare drum and she found an understanding music teacher who helped her learn how to "feel" the different sounds in her body. She went on to attend the Royal Academy of Music and become an award-winning solo percussionist. To this day she performs barefoot so that she can feel the musical vibrations as they move through the floor and into her feet. 

As a speech-language pathologist, I especially enjoyed the explanation of how sound and touch are similar. Air vibrates and travels through the human ear before that vibration is converted into an electrical signal that we perceive as sound. 

Evelyn was featured in a BBC documentary called, The Will to Win and a second documentary called Good Vibrations. She has created a film entitled Touch the Sound and the TED Talk, "How to Truly Listen." She has a solo album entitled Rhythm Song and more than 40 CDs. 

Read more about Evelyn at www.evelyn.co.uk. Check out her website where you will find videos of her discussing "Feeling Sound" and other topics. You can also listen to samples of her music.

The 2023 honor title for Young Children was In the Blue written and illustrated by Erin Hourigan. It is a picture book for young children (ages 4-8) about depression that handles a sensitive topic and makes it accessible through the use of art and color. The book provides a sensitive and thoughtful way to begin conversations with young children about mental illness.

For more stories of resilience, check out my January 28th post on It's My Whole Life: Charlotte Salomon: An Artist in Hiding During World War II  by Susan Wider as well as Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream written by KT Johnston and illustrated by Anabella Ortiz.

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