Melanie and Melvin may be twins, but they couldn’t be more different.
Melanie is LOUD and Melvin is quiet. Melvin likes frogs and Melanie loves MOTORCYCLES! When the twins learn that they will get their very own mobility scooters, Melanie is excited to race to school, but Melvin is worried he’ll fall — and that people will stare. And there’s a problem: Grandma can’t afford the scooters without selling one of Mom’s treasured paintings, one of the only things the twins have left to remember their parents.
In the process of getting their scooters, Melanie and Melvin have to navigate challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis: rudeness from a store clerk and products that aren’t made with kids in mind. But in the end, Melanie and Melvin choose scooters that are just right for them and make moving through their neighborhood a new adventure.
Written by disability advocate and mobility scooter user Dorothy Ellen Palmer, and illustrated by Maria Sweeney, The Scooter Twins is an #ownvoices story that shares the joys and challenges of disabled childhood, and offers many kids who get new wheels the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.
Key Text Features
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core States Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
Melanie and Melvin may be twins, but they couldn’t be more different.
Melanie is LOUD and Melvin is quiet. Melvin likes frogs and Melanie loves MOTORCYCLES! When the twins learn that they will get their very own mobility scooters, Melanie is excited to race to school, but Melvin is worried he’ll fall — and that people will stare. And there’s a problem: Grandma can’t afford the scooters without selling one of Mom’s treasured paintings, one of the only things the twins have left to remember their parents.
In the process of getting their scooters, Melanie and Melvin have to navigate challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis: rudeness from a store clerk and products that aren’t made with kids in mind. But in the end, Melanie and Melvin choose scooters that are just right for them and make moving through their neighborhood a new adventure.
Written by disability advocate and mobility scooter user Dorothy Ellen Palmer, and illustrated by Maria Sweeney, The Scooter Twins is an #ownvoices story that shares the joys and challenges of disabled childhood, and offers many kids who get new wheels the opportunity to find themselves in the pages of a book.
Key Text Features
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core States Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Mar 5, 2024 |
| Specifications | 32 pages | 10 in x 9 in |
| Keywords | absent parents; grandparents and grandchildren; supportive family; sibling relationships; fraternal twins; being different; feeling left out; new experiences; different personalities; child's perspective; independence; confidence; self empowerment; disability studies; |
| Written By |
DOROTHY ELLEN PALMER is a mother of two, an award-winning disabled senior writer, accessibility advocate and retired teacher. She served on the Accessibility Advisory Board of the Festival of Literary Diversity and regularly appears at literary festivals. She won the Helen Henderson Award for disability journalism, and has published three novels and the memoir Falling for Myself. The Scooter Twins is her first children’s book. She lives in Burlington, Ontario, with her mobility scooter, Rosie. |
| Illustrated by |
MARIA SWEENEY is a Moldovan-born, United States-based freelance illustrator and comic artist. She graduated magna cum laude from Moore College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration. Her educational mini-comic, The Straw Ban, won an Outstanding Submission for the 2019 Locher Memorial Awards. She writes and self-publishes comics relating to her experience of navigating the world with a rare disability. |
| Written By |
|
DOROTHY ELLEN PALMER is a mother of two, an award-winning disabled senior writer, accessibility advocate and retired teacher. She served on the Accessibility Advisory Board of the Festival of Literary Diversity and regularly appears at literary festivals. She won the Helen Henderson Award for disability journalism, and has published three novels and the memoir Falling for Myself. The Scooter Twins is her first children’s book. She lives in Burlington, Ontario, with her mobility scooter, Rosie. |
| Illustrated by |
|
MARIA SWEENEY is a Moldovan-born, United States-based freelance illustrator and comic artist. She graduated magna cum laude from Moore College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration. Her educational mini-comic, The Straw Ban, won an Outstanding Submission for the 2019 Locher Memorial Awards. She writes and self-publishes comics relating to her experience of navigating the world with a rare disability. |
| Audience | ages 6 to 9 / grades 1 to 4 |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 |
An educational, reassuring take on disability and loss.
” —Kirkus ReviewsWritten by an accessibility advocate, this story could be used to engage children in discussions surrounding mobility issues.
” —School Library JournalThis picture book shines a light on inequities in the healthcare system while still being child-friendly and fun.
” —Book RiotAn empowering book that promotes self advocacy skills and disability justice.
” —Toronto Star