Carina Ho

At first this book pissed me off. Maria wants to dance in the school talent show. Her teacher is just one of many trying to talk her out of entering the talent competition at school. That is what pisses me off. That even the teacher is trying to cover up a kids want to be noticed. Halfway through the book, we discovered that Mara is in a wheelchair and that there’s not even a way for her to get up on stage without being lifted up. And what saves this book for me is at the end when you meet the author. The author herself is a wheelchair user, and someone who speaks to children about being different is OK. Knowing that this book was written by somebody with these lived experiences, made me feel better as otherwise it felt like an author picking on a differently abled character. I would hate to think that people had doubted Mara just because of her alternate mode transportation.… (mehr)