Karen Hardwicke A like Ananya: the true life story of an inspirational girl

Meet Ananya, a girl who is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants but, like her hearing peers, has multiidentities. She is a daughter, a sister and a friend who likes Minecraft, tennis and the piano! With its positive representation of deafness, A Girl like Ananya will appeal to families of a deaf child as well as forming a valuable hearing loss awareness resource for mainstream schools with deaf pupils. The book, aimed at 68 year olds, provides an explanation of Ananyas listening devices and encourages the reader to try to understand the nature of her deafness"If you know a girl like Ananya, she may tell you that she needs to wear her cochlear implants every day. When she takes them off, she can hear nothing at all. Take a moment to think about this. Can you imagine hearing nothing at all?"A Girl Like Ananya challenges our perception of deafness and disability, beginning with a discussion point"Before you read this book, explore the following questionDo the two phrases below mean the same thing?1. the deaf girl2. the girl who is deaf"This is revisited at the end of the book, where there is an activity for children to complete about their own multiidentities. A Girl Like Ananya is Karen Hardwickes first book. Karen is a parent of a young deaf adult and has been a Teacher of the Deaf for over ten years. It is important to her that deaf characters are represented in a positive way and that her stories carry an affirming message for children and their parents. The... | Karen Hardwicke A like Ananya: the true life story of an inspirational girl