Books With Deaf Characters Post 10 - Discovering Friendship
Discovering Friendship by Sharona Kadish, illustrated by Dee DeRosa, is a picturebook.
A hearing girl tells the story of a new girl at school who's 'hearing impaired' and how the two quickly (very quickly!) become best friends.
I was going to be rather harsh on this one, but then I got to the end and the About the Author section. Turns out this was written by a girl in sixth grade. She won a contest to get it turned into a book. Of course she's in her late 20's now, but still. Kudos to her for A) Writing a book and B) Winning a contest.
So considering the author and that it was published in 1994, it's not bad. But as for whether I'd recommend it to someone today? No. Not as a book about a deaf kid. Maybe as a book written by a kid. To point at and say 'Look, you can do that too!'.
One problem is that the girl is always called 'hearing impaired'. So I can't even tell if she's deaf or hard of hearing. Though she does sign, so I lean towards Deaf, whichever she is. 'Hearing impaired' may sound PC, but it's not a preferred term. If it ever was.
She wears a hearing aid with wires that probably lead to a battery pack. The hearing aid is never mentioned, so that's only in the artwork. So, just a bit of dated illustration.
The story itself is simplistic and cheesy. Sappy. Bit preachy. If the story had developed over the course of months rather than days to the point where she's chatting away in sign language and buying a 'best friends' necklace, it would seem a little more realistic and a little less corny.
If you're looking for books to buy or to check out of the library, give this one a pass.
