Read on Twitter
when I was 9 I wrote jean little a fan letter. not only did she write me back two full pages in size 12 font single spaced, she called my house to talk to me https://twitter.com/GuelphToday/status/1247282071082373120
things I love about her work
- young, disabled protagonists
- gay girl undercurrents (I don't know if she was gay or not, but)
- 'lonely loser kid finally finds friendship' plots
- loving wholesome vibes
- had her characters plug other authors (katherine paterson, dickinson etc)
- young, disabled protagonists
- gay girl undercurrents (I don't know if she was gay or not, but)
- 'lonely loser kid finally finds friendship' plots
- loving wholesome vibes
- had her characters plug other authors (katherine paterson, dickinson etc)
if you haven't read jean little's work and feel like curling up with a children's novel that whooshes by and makes you cry (in a warm wet way), here's my short list
from anna: her most beloved book. a shy, prickly, lonely, bullied, visually impaired 9yo girl (inspired by jean little's own childhood) immigrates with her family from germany to canada in the 1930s and, thanks to a caring teacher, slowly starts to unfold https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780064400442
'from anna' touches on real disability history — like 'sight saving classes' (circa 1920s) intended to make education accessible to visually impaired children and prevent eye deterioration. here's a 1923 photo of students in a toronto class, weaving baskets like anna did!
another photo of a sight saving class in toronto's orde street school — check out how big and legible that chalk writing is
honestly one of my favorite parts of 'from anna' is how it describes her sisters having thick, beautiful braids — but anna's hair is thin and wispy and the bows just fall off. fucking real
there's also a lot of wonderment towards objects and materials in the book. like I always loved this excerpt: 'the crayons were big and bright. they looked inviting. the teacher put paper on the desk, rough, cream-colored paper. lovely paper for drawing. six pieces, at least!'
but the thing I love most about 'from anna' is how she slowly overcomes the shame she feels toward her own body — her sense of being awkward and ugly and incapable
next up: mama's going to buy you a mockingbird. a 1980s story of a boy losing his father to cancer, but finding his way through thanks to a blossoming friendship with tess, the school outcast — a tall girl in ill-fitting clothes who shares his love of cats https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/mamas-going-to-buy-you/9780143187875-item.html?ikwid=mamas+going+to+buy+you+a+mockingbird+by+jean+little&ikwsec=Books&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=dbdd3885b87ed052fa8bca375776dd05
'mama's going to buy you a mockingbird' was jean little's struggle book — she wrote it while losing the last of her vision. she couldn't see her typewriter so she rigged up a system with dictaphones and jacks and patch cords and tapes
after 'mama's going to buy you a mockingbird' came out jean little spent six months saving & fundraising to buy SAM, an early 1980s voice-to-text DOS hardware add-on she read about in the toronto star. it was invented by david kostyshyn, a blind developer from hamilton (pictured)
david kostyshyn himself spent a week training jean little to use it. an excerpt from her autobiography about that week: "david returned to the room in time to hear my SAM cry out in an agitated voice, UP ARROW, ERROR, UP ARROW, ERROR, ERROR. 'what have you done?' he yelled"
my favorite part of 'mama's going to buy you a mockingbird' is when, after the protagonist's dad dies, he has a moment of adult recognition with his mother — they lock eyes and he realizes she's as depressed at the prospect of doing christmas as he is. again, real shit
