Saturday, December 1, 2007

A Button in Her Ear


Litchfield, Ada B. A Button in Her Ear. Morton Grove, IL: Albter Whitman & Company, 1976.

A Button in Her Ear is a story about a little girl named Angela who is having a hard time hearing her classmates, teachers, and parents. Throughout the story, she misinterpreting what people are saying to the point that she is doing different activities wrong. Angela ends up going to the doctors who test her hearing and decide that she needs a hearing aid. One of the doctors calls her hearing aid, a make button, because it is tucked in her ear and will help her just like a button. She learns how to change the batteries and how to turn it on and off. She is nervous about going to school with the hearing aid, but when she gets there, Miss Hicks notices and asks her if she would like to tell the other students about it. Angela goes on to tell everyone about her "magic button."

This story was a very cute story and showed the person before the disability. Angela lived life normally and the book shows how people who are hard of hearing and misinterpret different sayings. The illustrations show a diverse group of children, the children are not of one race or ethnicity but of several different ones. Not only do they show different characters but the audiologist is an African-American woman. This is a nice aspect because it shows how all ethnicities can be extremely well educated and hold doctor jobs. Overall, this book shows how Angela who is hard of hearing lives life first but hearing words differently from what people are saying, to her receiving a hearing aid and being accepted for having the hearing aid. Students in her classroom see the hearing aid just like they see glasses as a way to help Angela hear.


The author seems to be an informed writer on this topic, she researched the topic and worked with a School for the deaf and even watched a demonstration on a hearing test, how to use and care for a hearing aid. She is also the author of several other books about people who are deaf and hard of hearing and other books about people with disabilities.

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