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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
"It was me, my legs, and my ugly face against the world." Baby Robert was born with a giant tumor that pushed his eyes apart and his legs were hopelessly deformed and twisted. He looked so "ugly" his mom nearly abandoned him, but changed her mind after his 4 siblings unanimously voted to keep their brother. I loved reading about Robert's courage and the way he didn't let cruel comments hold him back from pursuing a full life, eventually marrying and having a family of his own.
emotional
funny
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
I reas this to prepare for it as a possible student book club pick. It would be a wonderful memoir to pair with Wonder.
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
I'm impressed, not just that Hoge chose to tell the story of his life (including the fact that his mother didn't want to take him home for a month after he was born), but also that he chose to tell it for a middle grade audience and did it — in my opinion — very well. He talks in a matter-of-fact way about both his facial differences and his physical disabilities due to his deformed legs, using simple but not condescending language. He talks about being teased and being stared at, but he also talks about learning to do handstands with the neighbor girls, playing pranks on his schoolmates, and finding — after many attempts! — a physical activity that he could excel at. He has a dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud multiple times. Although I think Wonder is also a good book, I can see a lot of reasons to hand this book to middle-grade readers instead if you really want to have a conversation about facial differences.
The book holds up as a memoir for adult readers as well, though overall it's not as strong as a lot of other memoirs I've read. There are stories that Hoge includes for no apparent reason except that he happens to remember that moment from his childhood; these don't tie in to the rest of the book in any way or have any sort of punch line to explain their inclusion. Since the book is pretty short, it doesn't take away too much from the overall impact to have some filler stories, but it did mean there were unnecessary weak spots in the book's flow.
Hoge's story provides lots of food for thought about the way we as humans think about physical appearance and disability. For example, he says that before his parents decided to have him undergo a massive operation on his face, they wanted to make sure he had normal intelligence; if he'd been intellectually disabled, they wouldn't have bothered. There's a lot of discussion about trying to make him "normal" and how his face will impact his opportunities in life. It forces the reader to think about what they would do in a similar situation, both as parents and, at the end, when Robert himself has to decide as a teenager whether to undergo one final large operation. When it's not a medical necessity, can it still be considered a social necessity?
Hoge narrates the audiobook himself, so it wasn't the most compelling narration (authors who aren't actors rarely have the best narration), but you get to hear his Australian accent and hear him talk matter-of-factly about the difficult parts of his life. Speaking of his being Australian, I was a bit confused about the audience for the book, because at times it seemed to have been American-ized, using American words or explaining things in American terms, but at other times the words and phrases used were still distinctly Australian. (For example, I had to look up what "running writing" means — it's cursive.) Perhaps it was meant to split the difference and be understandable to Australian and non-Australian readers?
On the whole, I definitely recommend this! It's a good read for both kids and adults.
The book holds up as a memoir for adult readers as well, though overall it's not as strong as a lot of other memoirs I've read. There are stories that Hoge includes for no apparent reason except that he happens to remember that moment from his childhood; these don't tie in to the rest of the book in any way or have any sort of punch line to explain their inclusion. Since the book is pretty short, it doesn't take away too much from the overall impact to have some filler stories, but it did mean there were unnecessary weak spots in the book's flow.
Hoge's story provides lots of food for thought about the way we as humans think about physical appearance and disability. For example, he says that before his parents decided to have him undergo a massive operation on his face, they wanted to make sure he had normal intelligence; if he'd been intellectually disabled, they wouldn't have bothered. There's a lot of discussion about trying to make him "normal" and how his face will impact his opportunities in life. It forces the reader to think about what they would do in a similar situation, both as parents and, at the end, when Robert himself has to decide as a teenager whether to undergo one final large operation. When it's not a medical necessity, can it still be considered a social necessity?
Hoge narrates the audiobook himself, so it wasn't the most compelling narration (authors who aren't actors rarely have the best narration), but you get to hear his Australian accent and hear him talk matter-of-factly about the difficult parts of his life. Speaking of his being Australian, I was a bit confused about the audience for the book, because at times it seemed to have been American-ized, using American words or explaining things in American terms, but at other times the words and phrases used were still distinctly Australian. (For example, I had to look up what "running writing" means — it's cursive.) Perhaps it was meant to split the difference and be understandable to Australian and non-Australian readers?
On the whole, I definitely recommend this! It's a good read for both kids and adults.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced