WE ARE THE SCRAPPY ONES

Taussig assures disabled readers that they’re a vital part of “a world that wasn’t built with us in mind.”

As racially diverse children and adults with myriad physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities play, learn, and love, the author lyrically celebrates their resilience and resourcefulness: “We live, we adapt, we defy.” Disabled people are not burdens, but burdened by a world “starved for creativity and flexibility.” Importantly, Taussig acknowledges that navigating such a world can be “exhausting” and encourages readers to rest. Though many youngsters may feel alone, the author explains, “There were revolutionaries thinking of you before you were born,” including advocates Judy Heumann, Haben Girma, and Alice Wong. Taussig promises, “You will always be worth fighting for.” She also highlights readers’ power to enrich, and even change, the world. With unique ways of moving and being, “We hold the clues for a thousand new games.” While readers may feel out of place at times, Taussig reassures them, “Darling, we are the very blueprints of Home”—a reference to accessible design. But above all, “We are always enough, just as we are.” In Fagan’s luminous, star-spangled scenes, people using wheelchairs, white canes, communication devices, and more radiate joy and community, countering assumptions about disabled people (such as “loss leaves no space for laughter”) and reminding readers that they’re “as dazzling as a sky full of stars.” Backmatter includes further information on the advocates mentioned and invites readers to research others, such as Ed Roberts.

Warm, poetic, and affirming.