Diversity

Writing a picture book about diversity was an interesting experience and from this I now have a lot more respect for the published authors and illustrators in the children’s picture book market. Not only is there a lot of competition in this area but it takes a lot of time and effort both in writing and drawing to reach a finished product. This activity also made me more aware that the choice of stories used in a public library pre-school Storytime sessions is important and can be used for educational purposes.

For our assignment I chose to write a picture book about diversity. When most people think of diversity they think of cultural and ethnical diversity. However, diversity can also mean “the state or quality of being different or varied” (Collins, 2014). My story is aimed at pre-school aged children and I chose to write about a boy who is different to the rest of his kindergarten friends because he has hearing loss and needs hearing aids. I chose this subject because I know that a lot of children find out they need hearing aids at this age as this is often when groups like Lions Clubs (2014) do free hearing checks.

Another reason why I chose to write for pre-schoolers on this topic is because this is the age where early relationships with peers effects individual self-esteem and future ability to form social relationships (DeLuzio & Giolametto, 2011). Pre-schoolers with hearing loss can have difficulty forming relationships with their peer because they may have trouble interacting and may be seen as different. By writing a picture book that can be read in classrooms and libraries, I hope that an understanding and acceptance of difference can be promoted. Through promoting diversity at a young age there is not only an increase in knowledge but also an increase in awareness of themselves and of others (Goodman, 2011). By accepting differences at an early age, this hopefully reduces prejudices these children may form in the future.

As I had never written a children’s picture book before, I decided to do some research on how to write a popular picture book. One of the main themes I found was that a picture book isn’t a picture book without pictures. Considering I am lacking in artistic skills, I invited my eleven year old daughter to draw the pictures for my book. This process made me realise the importance of employing an illustrator when developing a picture book as the targeted readers understand so much of the story through the illustrations.

Part of my research included interviewing a mother of a child diagnosed with hearing loss as a pre-schooler and the steps taken to test his hearing and then fit for hearing aids. I also researched other picture book authors and the methods and tips used when writing for this age groups. Mayr (1999) makes some salient points about writing a picture book:

1. Read plenty of other picture books to better understand what is expected

2. Be brief. Ensure the picture book has 800 words or less and uses few descriptions

3. Tell a good story and include a beginning, middle and end

4. Understand the pre-school psyche and make sure the situations are familiar and the twist believable

5. Use obvious humour

6. Pictures are essential

7. Make sure the children understand the language you use

In writing my picture book, “Super Sam and His Hearing Aids”, I took care to follow Mayr’s recommendations. Unfortunately I had trouble deciding what digital platform to post my picture book on. As you can see, Issuu posted my book on the side. I apologise for your sore neck!

I hope that you enjoy the following story and I look forward to hearing your feedback. My picture book can be found on this link:

http://issuu.com/autismspectrumdisorderpathfinder/docs/super_sam_and_his_hearing_aids.docx 

Image Attributes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37075003@N02/4027770613


References

Collins. (2014). Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.collinsdictionary.com/

DeLuzio, J., & Girolametto, L. (2011). Peer interactions of preschool children with and without hearing loss. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. 54.4.

Goodman, D. J. (2011). Promoting diversity and social justice: Education people from privileged groups. (2nd. Ed.). Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.

Lions Australia. (2014). Lions Australia: We Serve. Retrieved from http://lionsclubs.org.au/

Mayr, D. (1999). Ten tips on writing picture books. The Writer, 112.6, p.14.