What's Going On Here?

There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Can there be more than one Newbery!

If there were, El Deafo would HAVE to get one!  What a remarkable book, done in graphic novel format and so I think that would make it very popular as well.  I found this book on Anderson Book Store's Mock Newbery site and I saw my friend with a copy just in at our library and I begged her to let me take it home over the weekend.  Wow WOW WOW!
One of the posters on goodreads said it best, We appear to exist in a golden age of children’s graphic novel memoirs." 
Indeed, El Deafo is a shiny, golden book.  Cece Bell has an author's note at the end of the book in which she says that she set out to show how she felt as she lost her hearing due to meningitis at age four.  Excellent book.  I learned a lot about deafness in general, too.  That some deaf persons see their deafness as a disability.  Some see it as a difference, Deafness with a captial D.  After reading El Deafo I began to learn more, to learn that the term "hearing impaired" is very offensive when used improperly.  Check this out from deaflinx.com:
hearing impaired:
This term is considered highly offensive. Just as "deaf-mute" and "deaf and dumb" are inappropriate labels, "hearing impaired" is an outdated way to collectively label people with any level of hearing loss. It does not account for cultural identity.
Elderly people with a hearing loss developed late in life often refer to themselves as being hearing impaired. This is an appropriate exception, but is often over-generalized by the majority of the American public.

The use of "hearing impaired" may be considered less blunt by many hearing people, but within the Deaf community, it is an insulting term and a sign of ignorance.
Super important to know!  And once again, this is an example of how reading has really changed my life and is helping to make me a much more aware person.  

No comments:

Post a Comment