The Pirate of Kindergarten is a compelling story about a fun-loving girl with double vision. Through Lynne Avril's illustrations the reader sees as Ginny sees – double – which gives the reader an idea of how difficult the world is for children with vision impairments and reading disabilities. Ginny, unaware that she is different, does her best to keep up with class activities. After a vision screening she is sent to the eye doctor and given a patch to wear. Ginny embraces the patch and incorporates it into her persona as an adventurous pirate.
The book’s focus is not on the disability, not on the patch, but on the person. We see through Ginny’s eyes how it is to be affected and are able to gain an appreciation for her position. The illustrations are bright and cheerful. They show us the fullness of Ginny’s emotions. For instance, when Ginny plunges her scissors into glue we see how overwhelming the situation is for her. A cute and enlightening book for preschool to early elementary readers.
Publisher: Atheneum Books, 2010 Pages: 40
Rating: 4 Stars Source: Public Library
Too cute! I love the cover.
ReplyDeleteTeaching kids this early about visual impairments is a breather from fairy tales. It may sound dark, but the author's creativity paved way for it to be cute and created a persona children could relate to.
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