On Being Sarah
Grade 5-8-- Sarah, 12, is confined to a wheelchair, with limited movement and no speech, the result of cerebral palsy. Her story involves her struggle and growth in regard to self-image; her relationships with family, peers, and neighbors; her adjustment at school; and the beginnings of a romance. Her thoughts are set in italics, reminding readers that she is nonverbal. Charles Bliss's system of pictoral/symbol communication is worked in throughout the story, as Sarah uses this system. Helfman supplies keen realism and compassionate descriptions of the girl's response to physical and emotional frustration, and her heroine is both introspective and outwardly determined. She thinks and feels with complexity. The story's closure is a bit abrupt, but overall, the book is very successful.- Judith Lipshutz, Norristown Public Library, PACopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.