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| Image Retrieved From: All the Way to the Top: How One Girl's Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything by Annette Bay Pimentel (afriwarebooks.com) |
Greetings, Friends! This post is a little late; it's been a crazy couple of weeks. In honor of Autism Acceptance Month, and due to a severe lack of quality literature on the experience of being autistic, I will be highlighting books that relate to my special interests!
Summary
This book, in addition to being a 2021 Arkansas Diamond Primary Award Winner, a 2021 Schneider Family Award winner, and an American Library Association Honor book, tells the true story of Jennifer Keelan-Chaffin's disability activism at just 8 years old in 1990. She herself wrote the forward, which I highly recommend reading! The story follows Jennifer from her early childhood through the passing and implementation of ADA in 1990. In the back of the book, there are two sections with additional information. "The Road to the Top" which provides explanations about what disability is, what access means, and historical information and photos from the Capitol Crawl and the passing of ADA. The second section, "Life Before and After the ADA" explains what Jennifer's life was like before the passing of ADA and after, as well as a timeline with Jennifer's life events on the bottom and disability legislation on the top, spanning from 1973 (Rehabilitation Act) to 2017 (Jennifer's college graduation).One new thing I learned about Jennifer from this book is that she was arrested at 6 years old for protesting in Montreal!
My Impressions and How I Would Use this Book
I absolutely love this book. It's light and rhythmic, making it accessible for younger reading levels, while having serious, high-level content with more formally organized information and a timeline in the back of the book. The "Stop and Go" pattern throughout the book can supplement understanding of opposites, while the content empowers disabled people, while the story also makes an important point that children can be activists too, and you're never too young to speak up for your beliefs! I would use this book for SEL/leadership instruction, supplementation for social studies content, and/or keep it as a book for checkout in my classroom library. I would even try to reach out and see if Jennifer would be willing to zoom with our class! We might have questions about her experiences the book didn't describe in detail as much, like her first protests and/or her college experiences! To think she graduated college only 8 years before me is insane. Like the Civil Rights movement for racial equality, it is not distant past and instead a current fight.
Professional Review
A girl with cerebral palsy fights for the 1990 passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Whether she's horseback riding or starting kindergarten, Jennifer Keelan's "ready to GO!" But all around her, places and people demand that she "STOP!" From her wheelchair, a 4-inch curb is a "cliff," and she's not allowed to join her classmates in the cafeteria. Everything changes when Jennifer—knowing that "children with disabilities get ignored too"—joins a diverse group of disability rights activists. When Jennifer is 8, activists propose the ADA to "make room for all people, including those with disabilities." Dismissed by Congress, disabled activists crawl up the steps of the Capitol to be heard. When grown-ups say she's too young to participate, Jennifer drags herself "ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP" on behalf of disabled kids everywhere. Ali's soft-focus illustrations deftly convey Jennifer's determined scowl and excited grin. Pimentel realistically acknowledges that the ADA hasn't fixed everything—"Slowest of all, minds have to change"—but in her foreword, the adult Jennifer—now Keelan-Chaffins—notes that she keeps "using [her] voice to speak up" and encourages readers to do likewise. Backmatter further discusses disabilities, the disability rights movement, and the ADA. Front- and backmatter seem geared toward older readers, who may find the main text a tad too simple; those wanting more information should follow this up with Amy Hayes' Disability Rights Movement (2017). Jennifer and her family present white; classmates' and activists' races vary.
A necessary testament to the power of children's voices. (notes, timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 4-10)
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8897-6
Word count: 260
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