Emmanuel's Dream
Author:
Laurie Ann Thompson
Illustrator:
Sean Qualls
Published by:
Schwartz & Wade
First Published:
6 Jan 2015
Ideal for readers age
6-9y
My Review
A special book that will capture kids' and adults alike with its celebration of a boy who, despite challenges, shows incredible resilience and tenacity, changing the attitudes of a nation as he cycles around Ghana showing his people that a disabilty is not a disqualification. In the United Arab Emirates, the description for a person with a disability is a 'person of determination'. We love this saying in our house, and it shines through in this book. Emmanuel is born with a limb difference, sustains the loss of first his father, then his mother, fights to be accepted by his fellow pupils in school, petitions leaders both in his own community and abroad, and achieves what many would have thought impossible for him; a bicycle journey around his country, changing the heart of a nation. If he's not a 'person of determination', I don't know who is!
Heads Up!
This book might chime with some as outdated in attitudes to disability, but it tells the important truth that in many countries in Africa, discrimination against those with disabilites is still the norm. Hard as this is to read (and as a parent of a child with a disability myself, it is so tough to read of babies regarded as 'cursed' because they are born with a difference), Emmanuel's tenacity and resilience in the face of adversity is what shines through in this story, and makes it stand out. The book is an excellent starting point for conversations with children about disability and different cultures - it's so important for children to realise that though attititudes in the UK are vastly different to what they used to be, this isn't the case in many parts of the world, and there are still injustices to be fought. Also worth noting; Emmanuel's father leaves when he is born, and his mother dies later on in the story - very young children may find these bits upsetting.