Monday, August 31, 2020

I Am Not a Label

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I Am Not a Label: 34 Disabled Artists, Thinkers, Athletes, and Activists from Past and Present by Cerrie Burnell, illustrated by Lauren Mark Baldo. Grades 3-7. Wide Eyed Editions, 2020. Review copy provided by my local library. 

Collective biographies - how do they do at your library? Not always great at mine, but this is one that I was thrilled to put on our shelves. This is a collection unlike any I have seen yet and it's high time to put more disability representation on our library shelves. This collective biography gathers brief bios of 34 different disabled people who have done awesome things. I really appreciate how diverse the collection is, highlighting not only people with a variety of different disabilities (physical and mental, visible and invisible), but people from around the globe and of many different races. Each of the 34 people profiles here gets a spread with a portrait and a page of information about their contributions to the world. There are folks you may have heard of here, like Frida Kahlo and Stephen Hawking and plenty of names that will probably be new, from Paralympic stars to artists to activists and more.