Half Human<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 In the story, the character with the birth defects died at birth, and the family names the centaur after that lost child.\u00a0 In the book version, the child and the centaur consider each other brothers.\u00a0 They both feel freakish and need protection from those who would hurt them or exploit them.\u00a0 Robbie\u2019s father represents all villains here as he treats Robbie harshly and wants to cash in on the centaur\u2019s potential as a moneymaker.<\/p>\nThe idea that Robbie relates in any way to the centaur isn\u2019t exactly a comfortable idea for Robbie\u2019s family, but by the end of the book everyone in the family has learned something or shifted perspective thanks to Robbie and his relationship with the centaur. This element of the plot came across as didactic to me, and I didn\u2019t think that either Robbie or Kai were fully fleshed out characters, which made the ending in which they begin a charitable organization for kids with disabilities feel somewhat inauthentic.<\/p>\n
In the end, Ari learns that the creature was not a mistake at all.\u00a0 He was magical.\u00a0 He transforms her world and perspective in many ways, and by extension, her brother with all of his differences has an inspirational element to his character.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but wish that there was an option other than magic or mistake offered for Robbie and Kai.\u00a0Perhaps, like me, they might just be different for no reason and with no obligation.<\/p>\n
Despite the elements that I saw as didactic or inauthentic, there is a lot that kids will like in this book.\u00a0 Ari is a relatable character, and her story is satisfying.\u00a0 Readers who are drawn to horse novels or realistic fantasies are the most likely to appreciate this gentle, uplifting story.\u00a0 The author\u2019s note offers more information about Thalidomide, horse therapy, and historical language for people with disabilities for those who are interested in further context.\u00a0Centaur Rising<\/em>\u00a0presents opportunity for teachers or other educators to bring up a discussion of preconceived ideas about people who are different as well as give some historical context to the way that our treatment of people with disabilities has changed.\u00a0 There is a lot to talk about in this story, and if the book can start those, often uncomfortable, conversations about how we view people (or creatures) that look different and how they are represented in fiction, I count that as a good thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite elements that I saw as didactic or inauthentic, there is a lot that kids will like in this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[176,74],"genre":[9,23],"age_category":[6],"disability":[177,178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7332,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/7332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a><\/center><\/div>Thalidomide, as explained in an author\u2019s note, was an anti-nausea medication taken by pregnant women in the late 1950\u2019s and early 1960\u2019s.\u00a0 It was eventually banned when doctors learned it caused birth defects in children.\u00a0 Most middle grade readers aren\u2019t going to know about Thalidomide.\u00a0 It was well before their time, as it was before my time as well.\u00a0 Nonetheless, I knew about it in the late 1980\u2019s when I was a kid because people of a certain generation saw my limb deficiency and immediately connected it to Thalidomide.\u00a0 I regularly had to tell people that I was not a \u201cThalidomide Baby,\u201d that my congenital limb difference was random.\u00a0 It remains one of many assumptions people often make about me, and I still find myself having to explain that I am not old enough to have been affected by Thalidomide.\u00a0 There is also the fact that it was never approved for use in the United States, and the affected children (adults now) are largely European or Canadian.<\/p>\n