Happy ever afters - Kathy Saunders

Most people will be involved with or affected by disability, yet we rarely teach children how to manage when they encounter disability in themselves, their families or their communities. Too often their perceptions are formed by unhelpful ideas portrayed in the books they are encouraged to read. Helping children interpret these disability issues appropriately tends to be neglected. This book offers a simple framework by which children's fiction can be examined for outdated or erroneous portrayals of disability. Using readily available children's books, this publication provides an adaptable method for teaching all children about understanding and coping with disability and is a guide to introducing young readers to a more realistic perception of relative abilities. It explains how certain familiar storybooks can be interpreted to highlight major disability awareness concepts; suggests how these can be used to promote discussions about disability with children from early years to adolescence; shows how to identify texts which create misleading ideas about disability; indicates how disability interests can be included in a number of curriculum areas. Authors whose books are reviewed include: Raymond Briggs, Kathryn Cave, Shirley Hughes, Rose Impey, David McKee, Margaret Mahy, Jill Murphy.