VIEWS From the pen of… DAN WHITE


“Too many publishers are writing things that are ‘too safe’ about disability”


In the first of a special double bill of authors’ columns this month we hear from DAN WHITE, author of the new children’s book cluster ‘Look, Brook’, part of Pearson’s Bug Club collection for primary readers.


When’s the last time you read a book that featured a dynamic character with disabilities? An authentic, messy, fun protagonist determined to achieve? How many plotlines can you recall in which ‘having a disability’ was not the primary focus of a character’s story? I’m willing to bet there’s not much


springing to mind. And, to my mind, it’s time that changed. Inclusion is not a delusion – that’s my motto, and it’s what informs my


work every day. As a policy and campaigns officer for Disability Rights UK, as an author, as an illustrator, and as a very proud father to Emily, who uses a wheelchair, I write books that have leads with disabilities; stories that don’t infantilise or explain disabilities to readers. The reality is there’s little out there showing children with disabilities in


a strong, positive light; full of action and adventure; with characters who have a disability and get into mischief, explore, dream, misbehave; even with characters who show strength and confidence. The scarcity of options used to frustrate my daughter no end. She


found no characters she could relate to. The narratives she encountered at school didn’t fit with her experience. In so many respects, they still don’t. In fact, children with disabilities are determined like everyone else. They


want to do everything that other children their age are doing – and why shouldn't they? Moreover, why shouldn’t they have access to stories and characters that they can relate to, and which they can share with their peers? If their friends want to understand disabilities more after having a read, that’s a great result. The main thing, though, is that they find the stories fun and gripping, and make more positive associations with characters who have disabilities. That’s why I created the character Brook, for a new illustrated cluster


of books for Pearson’s Bug Club. Brook is a very confident girl. She uses a wheelchair and is very proud of her disability, and empowered by it. The first story, Look Brook, features astronomy: Brook travels to the


moon, fulfilling a dream that many children share. In the second, Brook enters a time machine and encounters different inspiring people from history who have disabilities. In the third, Brook meets children who are new to using a wheelchair – using the story to highlight how much they can do, and make it clear that the transition needn’t be scary. Too many publishers are writing things that are ‘too safe’ about


disability. The stories are clinical and uninspiring. Instead, we need to understand the realities of life for children. They can push the boundaries. They are little humans with huge ambitions, which we need to recognise and allow them to pursue. By sharing Brook with the world, we have a chance to help break the


mould for young readers, whatever their ability or background. Disability deserves its time in the books we read, right at the forefront.


To explore the full Bug Club range, visit https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/primary/subjects/english- literacy/bug-club


October 2022 From the pen of… HETTY STEELE


Making light work of the Bard


In the second of our special “From the pen of…” double bill, we’re delighted to hear from HETTY STEELE, author of ‘How to get a 9 in Shakespeare’ published by John Catt Educational. The odds are, if you enter a Year 11


English Literature classroom in this country the students will be studying Shakespeare for GCSE. Shakespeare has become synonymous in some ways with what it means to study English, what it means to read or write English. And yet, almost invariably, our students struggle with the historic works – whether that be with plot, language or context. There are those that have called for Shakespeare to be removed


from our syllabi, citing a lack of relatability, antiquated tropes, inaccessible language and just ancient history. However, I would argue that there is still a place at the table for Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and that it is possible to remove the barriers to learning and secure these iconic works in our specifications for years to come (and for us to be glad about it). Firstly, when students question (as they will) the relevancy of


these seemingly nonsensical characters to their day-to-day lives, we need only reference Christopher Booker’s seven basic plots to illustrate that these stories are unfolding all around them. Overcoming the monster: Macbeth. Also, every Avengers film ever created and Stranger Things. Rags to riches: The Tempest. Also, The Wolf of Wall Street and Slumdog Millionaire. These are challenges and notions fictional characters have been grappling with for hundreds of years. Shakespeare is just one snapshot of that, and students have many more ways to access these characters than it might first appear. In terms of barriers to learning, increasingly over the course of


my teaching career it has become apparent that teachers can be as intimidated by the works of the bard as students. The language is unfamiliar, there is no way around that. But, in my opinion, part of what our students can gain from studying Shakespeare lies here: code-breaking, resilience, delayed gratification. We teach them how to tackle problems, how to piece together evidence and how to build on prior knowledge. Do we know what this word means? No? Is there another word we know that sounds similar? What could we replace it with, and still have the sentence make sense? If we really have no idea, shall we keep reading and see if we can take an educated guess? Modelling what it looks like to struggle, to fail, and how to move past that, is perhaps the key teaching strategy for Shakespearean language. If we look to the upper end of the GCSE grades, what unites


exam boards is their desire to have our students engage perceptively, critically and sophisticatedly with Shakespeare. These adverbs are rooted in something that transcends whether the “perfumes” of Arabia are concrete or abstract nouns: they want our students to consider the big picture. Is Macbeth a purely evil character or does he have moments of vulnerability? Why might Shakespeare do this? What is it saying about the human condition? How to Get a 9 in Shakespeare is essentially dedicated to this wide lens notion: how do these Shakespearean ideas fit into our understanding of the world? The beauty and the essence of teaching Shakespeare comes in


our students’ ability to volunteer a suggestion as to how his themes, and images, and characters speak not just to the original audience, but to humanity across time. That’s why his works are on our syllabi today and that’s why they will remain.


https://www.johncattbookshop.com/how-to-get-a-9-in- shakespeare


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