From: dragonflyer
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2006 18:13:10 -0700

I agree with Denise (posting copied below); a good novel should not focus on a disability to the exclusion of everything else. A novel like that won't ring true with the reader, and he/she will most likely put it down... I hope!

 

It would never occur to anyone who's read The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman to describe this as being a novel about a blind girl (Lexie), just as no one would describe Saffy's Angel as a novel about a disabled girl named Sarah. Like Sarah, Lexie is a rounded character--one with whom readers can empathize, one who enriches the themes which the novel attempts to relate. In education today we push for 'inclusion'--the idea being that, when possible, we adapt for and include all children, not make room for "them". In The Schwa Was Here, Lexie is precisely the kind of character with a disability which we should expect from good literature: the kind whose universality and essential humanity always supersede her disability.

 

For more on The Schwa Was Here read the editorial reviews at amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Schwa-was-Here-Neil-Shusterman/dp/0142405779/sr=8-1/qid=1160080675/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8684765-1699165?ie=UTF8&s=books

   R. Joers Wayne, PA


> I also favor portrayals of disabled children in everyday situations as real
> people. Hiliary McKay's series about the Casson family (Saffy's Angel;
> Indigo's Star; Permanent Rose; and Caddy Ever After) comes to mind. Saffy's
> good friend, Sarah, sometimes known as "the wheelchair girl" early in the
> friendship does everything. It's easy to forget that Sarah is in a
> wheelchair. Her friends are respectful of her but do not coddle or fuss over
> her.
>
> Denise Sciandra
> Fresno, CA
Received on Thu 05 Oct 2006 08:13:10 PM CDT