Famous Children's illustrator does book about disabled kids

Despite some improvements, disability is poorly represented in the mainstream media. We don’t seem to see that many examples in film, TV or literature of characters that have some form of disability unless the story focuses on that specific aspect about them. However…

… It was somewhat heart-warming to find that Quentin Blake, most famous of course for illustrating some of Roald Dahl’s classic books, has personally addressed this matter with his latest piece of work.

He has recently written and illustrated a children’s book titled ‘the Five of Us’ and the story is about 5 children all with special abilities (as he puts it) coming to the aid of a bus driver who falls ill during an outing.

Hearing impairments, visual impairments, mobility issues and speech impediments are all addressed in this volume, with Blake depicting disability in children in a particularly refreshing, charming and fun way.

Rather than focusing on the negative impact that disability has on people, Blake paints a picture of a group of kids who are all very three dimensional characters. They are interesting, with their strengths and weaknesses and plenty of personality. And of course in the end their combined efforts save the day.

Needless to say, his illustrations, which we all grew up with, still retain all the warmth and humour that they did in the glory days of the BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Twits. And it is interesting to think how it will affect the children who will grow up reading about people with disabilities as fun and exciting people who get up to the same adventures and into the same scrapes as classic heroes of children’s literature. I wonder too if it will affect some parents.

In previous interviews, Blake has said that he was motivated to write a book about children with disabilities having, in the past, included them in stories as only secondary characters. Upon reflection he thought to himself there was no reason why they shouldn’t be the main characters.

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