We all wonder about people who seem physically different. Should we stare or look away? Should we ignore, or question? How should we react and how can we help our children understand? Two non-fiction books by honest writers, give us views from the inside. Shelly Nixon's From Where I Sit: Making My Way With Cerebral Palsy is a memoir written by a twenty-one year girl whose premature birth resulted in CP. Sally Hobart Alexander's do you remember the color Blue? is written by a woman who lost her sight at age 27.
Sally Alexander wrote her book do you remember the color Blue? after years of traveling around the country speaking with children. She's used to hearing frank questions and giving genuine answers. Alexander, who was teaching children when she lost her sight, is clearly a person who loves to learn and communicate the truths she's discovered. She describes how her blindness came from a rare condition when blood vessels in her eyes began to rupture. She tells her personal story briefly, focusing on her intense emotional states and then tells about the ways she and so many others have learned to adapt. There are photos and descriptions of technology she uses and lots of information about her daily life. Alexander describes small braille-marked tags she pins inside her clothes to make sure outfits match. She often weeds at night and has never has seen her children, but knows them well through smell, sound, and touch. She kept track of them as toddlers by tying bells to their shoes so they could explore and she'd know where they were. Alexander describes being blind, giving her seeing readers perspective as they learn, for example, that those who are born blind have no sense of color, plaid, or polka-dots. Best of all, Alexander makes readers both wonder and understand.
Shelly Nixon's memoir From Where I Sit: Making My Way With Cerebral Palsy is filled with the immediacy of someone who is still close to her childhood memories. Nixon begins with her parents' frustrations during her infancy. Particularly how they dealt with doctors who held back truths when they knew her development was different. Nixon's honest about her relationship with her parents. She loves them, knows what they've given up to help her, but she's not shy about discussing difficulties . Nixon's book is rooted in emotions. Her horror of anesthesia and pain following surgeries, the hurt of children who rejected her for no reason except her differences,and the disappointment of unreturned love. Nixon's book also has a lot of positive feelings. She is a young woman who is adventure- hungry and won't let CP get in her way of sailing, parasailing, or scary amusement park rides. Nixon's found success and pleasure in writing. She began as catharsis, won awards, and now has written a book that lets those without CP know what her world looks like from the inside.
These books have another audience that may be even more important. I asked a fifteen year old with CP to preview From Where I Sit and she loved the book. Her mother immediately bought several copies to share with friends and family, grateful that so many of their experiences were reflected in its pages. When I asked the fifteen year old what she thought, she said, "it was me!" She had never before seen someone like herself in a book. It's hard to say which is the greater gift; giving those from the outside understanding, or letting those on the inside see representation of themselves in books.
Shelly Nixon's From Where I Sit: Making My Way With Cerebral Palsy (Scholastic, $4.99; ages 9 and up)
Sally Hobart Alexander's do you remember the color Blue? (Viking, $15.99; ages 8 and up)