Review of 8 Kid’s Books with a Character in a Wheelchair Part II
The popularity of Review of 8 Kid’s Books with a Character in a Wheelchair Part I was so high, we decided to do a part II of eight more books. For this review, Luda examines picture books featuring a character in a wheelchair. Some of this feedback is based on her personal experience as someone in a wheelchair, and the rest is focused on the story, character, and messaging focus of these books.
Each purchase made with our affiliate Bookshop link (in the title of each book mentioned) goes towards supporting authors, illustrators, and staff with disabilities! Books that aren’t on Bookshop have been linked to Goodreads.
I was really excited to read this because I thought it would be empowering. Instead, I found a history lesson featuring Jennifer Keelan. The fact that she is being spotlighted is amazing, but my issue is with the story structure and overall execution of it. For starters, it is very long for a picture book (I’d guess maybe 1,500 words) and is written almost like a textbook for kids/crossing into chapter book writing. For example, on page 6, “Jennifer and her family hear about activists who are working to make sure people with disabilities have access to public places, like schools. They want to know more, so they attend a strategy meeting. Jennifer has never seen anything like it! The room is full of grown-ups with all sorts of disabilities. Some use wheelchairs. Some use canes. None of them are sitting around waiting for things to change. They’re shouting, laughing, and planning a big protest to get wheelchair lifts on buses.” There are great points, such as where the author uses “STOP” to show inaccessible moments and when the main character climbs the stairs at the end, but there’s nothing that connects all these different moments into a linear story. In fact, it feels as though an adult wrote a memoir about this person’s childhood instead of making it feel like the main character is sharing it through her eyes. The ending is also not satisfactory because the fight that has potential to be the most powerful aspect of this book falls flat.
Furthermore, the message of this series of this series of picture books is damaging to someone in a wheelchair. For one, Ben’s adventures showed his imagined play as talking and walking despite him claiming that “I can’t walk. I can’t talk. But that’s okay! I use my imagination every day.” This notion of imagining being “normal” feeds into the common misconception that people with disabilities would only enjoy life much more if they didn’t have their disabilities—the storyline reinforced the dangerous idea that disabled people need to be “cured” or “fixed.” Why couldn’t the main character have used his wheelchair, not talked, and still done amazing things with his imagination through play? The second book in the series was even more problematic because it showed him standing with his wheelchair nowhere in sight. Being able to walk and talk shouldn’t be the reason to imagine happy play for someone disabled—it should include that disability and focus on imagining flying in rocket ships (in the wheelchair) or flying in the ocean waves like a bird (in a beach wheelchair), for example.
I Will Dance by Nancy Bo Flood (2020)
Hope you enjoyed all the reviews! Do you have picture books featuring a character in a wheelchair that you like or don’t like? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. #includas #IncludasReviews