Title: Best Friend on Wheels
Author: Debra Shirley
Illustrator: Judy Stead
Publisher: Coughlan Publishing
Genre: Children’s nonfiction, special needs
Age level: 5-8
Themes: Physical disabilities, anxiety of meeting new classmates, uncertainty of new situations, rhyming schemes
Synopsis: In second grade, Mrs. Poole asks our narrator to show the new girl around school. Imagine the surprise when our narrator first meets Sarah—Sarah uses a wheelchair! For a moment, our narrator feels awkward.
Synopsis: In second grade, Mrs. Poole asks our narrator to show the new girl around school. Imagine the surprise when our narrator first meets Sarah—Sarah uses a wheelchair! For a moment, our narrator feels awkward.
About the author: The idea for Debra Shirley’s Best Friend on Wheels came from her work with Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League (PHAMALy). She learned a great deal from “differently-abled” actors about living with disabilities. Working with PHAMALy, she learned that people with disabilities are as complicated as everyone else and share the same interests, abilities, hopes and dreams. Debra is currently the Director of after school and summer arts programs at two elementary schools in Arvada, Colorado. She writes poetry, fiction, children’s books, and plays.
About the illustrator: Judy Stead’s freelance illustration career began in fourth grade. In college, she majored in reading and drawing. She lives with her family in Charlotte, NC, where her “treetop studio” overlooks some of Mother Nature’s “wild work.” She has illustrated more than a dozen children’s trade books, and she is an author/illustrator of The Twelve Days of Christmas in North Carolina.
Pre-reading activities: Ask the students if any know anybody who has to live in a wheelchair for whatever reason. If the student is daring enough, they can share who that person is, what happened if they know, and why that person is special to them.
Post-reading activities: The students will compare the book to poetry, since the last word in each line rhymed. The students will be asked questions about the book, such as why they thought the girl was nervous to be around Sarah at first. There will be a discussion afterward, asking if the students would be nervous of have been nervous when meeting someone who has a wheelchair or some other visible special need.
Reflection: I thought this book was very cute. It shows that although some people are nervous when approaching someone with a special need, that the person isn’t much different from anyone else when they get to know the person.
Works cited:
This book looks really cute! I think it would be great for students to understand what it would be like to be in a wheelchair. Great way to talk about tolerance!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this because some students may not have been exposed to others in wheelchairs before, and they probably wouldn't know how to approach the situation. So this book really shows how to approach new situations and it's definitely a book about teaching tolerance.
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