Abstract
Children’s authors have not traditionally developed characters with disabilities to include a multiplicity of traits, crafting instead static, uni-dimensional portrayals. While books with depictions of characters with identified exceptionalities have appeared onbookstore shelves and awards’ lists, these characters have generally been relegated to subsidiary positions, assisting other main characters in their growth and development without demonstrating parallel learning. Two Canadian authors discuss their conceptualization of characters with special needs, exploring personal narratives which have informed their work and concluding that children require book collections which explore multi-levelled characters, encouraging readers to discover real life heroes within and among themselves.
Highlights
Biography Beverley Brenna is an assistant professor in Language and Literacy at the University of Saskatchewan
Writing and that have continued to support her depiction of characters with special needs
In her teaching career, she found herself working in the field of special education and sought books which fairly represented her students with physical disabilities
Summary
Biography Beverley Brenna (www.beverleybrenna.com) is an assistant professor in Language and Literacy at the University of Saskatchewan. Jean and I were engaged in conversations about what we identified as stereotypical social constructions of characters with disabilities in traditional children’s fiction. When asked about her own depiction of characters with special needs, Little was frank (personal communication, September, 2008): “When I began to write, I was conscious that I wanted to write sometimes of children with disabilities like myself.
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