The 411 by Maria:
A little over a week ago I headed over to the school to celebrate Handsome's birthday with his class. The teacher requested that I bring in a book to read to the class. Never one to miss an opportunity to read, I grabbed Let's Hear It For Almigal. I had never read it as it had just come in the day prior so it was a new story for me too.
The kids grabbed their place on the rug and I started reading. You could hear a pin drop as the students, teacher and aids listened to the story of Almigal. Almigal is different which is beautiful. Who wants to be like everyone else anyway? Almigal cannot hear. She discusses all the things she wants to hear like a robin singing and the music for dance but what she wants most is to hear her parents tell her that they love her. I almost lost it reading that line to the kids in class. As a big, softie I could barely hold it together thinking how I would feel knowing that Handsome or Goddess couldn't hear my love yous or me theirs.
What I loved more than anything about the book is how open the children were with their own stories afterwards. They talked about needing glasses, a crutch, braces, and even another talked about her own cochlear implant. The teachers asked to borrow the book to show the inclusion and special ed teacher as well as the school guidance counselor because of the positive message about differences, acceptance, acknowledgment, encouragement and finally who doesn't love a happy ending.
You cannot help but fall in love with Almigal.
A little over a week ago I headed over to the school to celebrate Handsome's birthday with his class. The teacher requested that I bring in a book to read to the class. Never one to miss an opportunity to read, I grabbed Let's Hear It For Almigal. I had never read it as it had just come in the day prior so it was a new story for me too.
The kids grabbed their place on the rug and I started reading. You could hear a pin drop as the students, teacher and aids listened to the story of Almigal. Almigal is different which is beautiful. Who wants to be like everyone else anyway? Almigal cannot hear. She discusses all the things she wants to hear like a robin singing and the music for dance but what she wants most is to hear her parents tell her that they love her. I almost lost it reading that line to the kids in class. As a big, softie I could barely hold it together thinking how I would feel knowing that Handsome or Goddess couldn't hear my love yous or me theirs.
What I loved more than anything about the book is how open the children were with their own stories afterwards. They talked about needing glasses, a crutch, braces, and even another talked about her own cochlear implant. The teachers asked to borrow the book to show the inclusion and special ed teacher as well as the school guidance counselor because of the positive message about differences, acceptance, acknowledgment, encouragement and finally who doesn't love a happy ending.
You cannot help but fall in love with Almigal.
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That sounds like a wonderful book that hearing and non-hearing children can learn a lot from. I will definitely look for this one.
ReplyDeleteI love that the children responded so well to the book. That is so nice to know. Kids can be mean about real life differences. Great book and lesson for all. Great job. You did a wonderful thing for sure. Rita Spratlen rjspratlen@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a beautiful book.
ReplyDeleteradeeolover at yahoo dot com
Thank you so much for your wonderful review of my children's picture book, "Let's Hear It For Almigal". I especially loved when you wrote "you could hear a pin drop"..."you cannot help but fall in love with Almigal" and "who wants to be like everyone else anyway".
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you posted the review on Amazon and thank you very much for helping to raise awareness about hearing loss affecting children.
Wendy Kupfer