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Just Because by Rebecca Elliott (view source)
Revision as of 09:01, 15 August 2010
, 09:01, 15 August 2010no edit summary
Toby's best friend is his big sister, Clemmie. She can't walk, talk or move around much. Just because. He loves her dearly, and we discover all the many ways they play together. It's an utterly gorgeous tale of sibling affection.
Clemmie, as you might have guessed, uses a wheelchair. And so cue my liberal awkwardness in making sure I pitch the tone of the book correctly to you. ''Just because'' sums it up perfectly, and works brilliantly as a repeated note throughout. Toby loves his sister for many many reasons. Some, but not all , of the things he tells us about stem from her disability - there are differences, but it's not her sole defining characteristic. It's just because. There's no breaking down barriers, there's certainly no tokenism. These are a brother and sister who love each other dearly - it just so happens that one of them has a disability.
Disability features far too scarcely in children's books, but when it's there it's usually done well. As I noted in the review of [[Einstein's Underpants - And How They Saved The World by Anthony McGowan|Einstein's Underpants]], there's an understanding and an acceptance that kids often seem to do so much better than adults. Better representation leads to more familiarity, which leads to normalisation of people's attitudes towards it. Just like we're so far beyond saying ''Oh and the main character's best friend is BLACK. Isn't that MARRRRRRRRRVELLOUS?'', we'll get to the stage where books including disability are doing so just because. ''Just Because'' is a strong and important part of that process, and I look forward to the day when my reviews of such books better reflect the tone of the books themselves.