Silent Observer [Hardcover]

Christy Mackinnon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1993 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

The late author tells of growing up deaf in rural Nova Scotia at the turn of the century and her exchanges with Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, both of whom encouraged her to learn and to draw.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-MacKinnon, born in 1889 and deaf since the age of two, worked as an artist until her death in 1981. Her niece later found a package of artwork and notes and published them in this memoir. The text reads like a diary, lending authenticity and charm to MacKinnon's anecdotal stories of growing up in 19th-century Nova Scotia. Her watercolor illustrations are colorful and heavily outlined; some are more detailed than others. Their unpolished look reinforces the personal nature of the book. However, the intended audience for this title is unclear. The text is quite long, and the subject matter would be best appreciated by upper-elementary students, but the format is that of a picture book. A unique offering, but one with limited appeal.
Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5-9. A personal view of growing up on a Cape Breton farm at the end of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with line-and-watercolor artwork, this first-person memoir starts when MacKinnon contracted whooping cough and lost her hearing at age two. The narrative continues through her first term at a boarding school in Halifax when she was 13. MacKinnon's experiences included the death of her mother, the realization that she was deaf, her father's remarriage, and her difficult adjustment to boarding school. While both the drawing and the writing are awkward at times, this memoir, culled after her death from MacKinnon's diaries and artwork, has a certain charm. Aside from the story itself, which includes the child's meeting Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, as well as some amusing anecdotes of farm life, the book may be useful to teachers presenting units on nineteenth-century life or on deafness. Carolyn Phelan

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 42 pages
• Publisher: Gallaudet University Press; 1 edition (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156368022X
• ISBN-13: 978-1563680229
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 11.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Explore the World > Canada

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