The four books I chose to review were ‘Ovis has trouble at school’ by Christine Tuccille Merry, ‘My friend has down syndrome’ by Jennifer Moore-Mallnos, ‘Just because’ by Rebecca Elliot, and ‘The seeing stick’ by Jane Yolen. Each of these books are picture story books about children with exceptionalities. ‘Ovis has trouble at school’ by Christine Tuccille Merry is based on a little lamb with sensory processing disorder (SPD). The purpose of this book was in hope that children with sensory challenges would be able to relate with Ovis the sheep. Ovis is a little sheep that is terribly misunderstood by everyone around his. What they don’t know is that he has sensory processing issues, therefore he misbehaves. In the story he gets guidance from …show more content…
I loved how the color on the illustrations unfolds mirroring the blind girl's attempt to "see" with her fingers. The embossed pages are like Braille. This book is about Hwei Ming, the emperor's daughter and was born blind. The book shows her being alone and isolated in the beginning of the story as people try to come from all over the country to cure her of her blindness. When an old man travels from a great distance with his Seeing Stick he opens the world up to Hwei Ming by teaching her to "see" through touching the people and objects around her. When reading I noticed the color (or lack of color) and then on the page with the old man carrying The Seeing Stick, which is the first page with color. One might be offended by the portrayal of Hwei Ming's blindness arguing it is a stereotype of a character with a disability who does not do "normal" activities such as playing with other children or exploring the palace. But I think her blindness is balanced by the old man who does lead a normal life and shows Hwei Ming how to "see" whereon she teaches other blind children the same lesson. The story ends with much hope and joy and the focus is on Hwei Ming and how she changes versus how she is blind. It is an opportunity to talk about characters with disabilities and how they are portrayed in