AUTHOR: Paul Miller
Without people knowing why,
children from the village have been disappearing for generations.
One day the twins happen to find
themselves at the centre of the mystery and with the help of a pair of red
opera gloves which have magical powers enabling Aurora to sign perfectly, they
uncover the mystery and defeat the wicked witch who is causing all the trouble.
This enchanting tale features a
deaf character at its core, enabling deaf children to see themselves
represented in media from a young age. It is an easy to understand, imaginative
story of good overcoming evil, based loosely on the fairy-tale Hansel and
Gretal.
The book includes colourful
illustrations on every page which help relate the story and bring it to life. I do find myself a little at odds with a couple of the concepts
in the story however. First, near the beginning of the story the twin's mother goes
off to work leaving them by themselves for the day. The age of the twins isn’t given in the book,
but from the illustrations, I would guess they are perhaps about nine years of
age. Their mother tells them to stay
together and that they are allowed to go to the park. I think this part of the story isn’t
representational of current life where young children are not left alone to
look after themselves, nor should they be encouraged to do so in stories such
as this. Additionally, they should not
be told they are allowed to go to the park by themselves without an adult at
this age for all the reasons regarding child safety in today’s current
climate. Young children reading this
story may think it is OK to do so and I don’t think the book should encourage
such thinking.
The story doesn’t mention British
Sign Language but I imagine it has been written to encourage its use and to
inspire more deaf and hearing people to use it.
The author is aiming to produce a series of stories
featuring the young twins, Anders and Aurora.
Supported by Arts Council
England, 'The Gingerbread Witch' was firstly created as a performance piece in
collaboration with artists Vilma Jackson and Joel Daniel. Now devised as a full
live touring production, it has also been adapted into animation. In 2019, Deaffest awarded the animation as
’Best Artistic Short Film' and it was also awarded ‘Best Animation Short Film’
by Festival Clin d’Oeil in France.
The book is illustrated by the author.
Author, Paul Miller is a director of
Surface Area Dance Theatre and the founder and director of Rory’s Studio, an
award-winning arts organisation working across illustration, animation and live
theatre. As a deaf British Sign Language user, Miller’s work is designed to
illuminate and educate on Deaf culture within mainstream spaces.
Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
The hard truth is that many young people who are cared for by single, hard-working parents or guardians find themselves spending time alone. Marcus Rashford is one of many campaigners that spotlight child poverty. I think what the author is suggesting is that the twins have each other that their special bond is their power. The illustrations in this book are so vibrant and really help to bring the story to life.
ReplyDelete