Ceana Has CP

Card, Fran C. Ceana Has CP. Royal Blue Books, 2006.
Ceana Has CP is about a young girl Ceana who has Cerebral Palsy known as CP. However, the reader realizes that what defines her is a little girl with a big smile who loves to chase her grandma’s hairless cats. In the beginning of the story, Ceana and her big brother Cullen play a game called, “Who can see the bus first?” before Cullen goes to school. Since Ceana has CP she does not walk the same as her mom, dad and brother. The story explains CP in a simple, yet meaningful way in order for readers to understand the basics of this disability. The story goes on by saying that Ceana can still take part in her favorite activities (chasing after her grandma’s cats and making cookies with her mom and brother) as long as she still does her daily exercises on her legs because she has CP.

I highly recommend this children’s book for being a positive portrayal of children with Cerebral Palsy or CP. The author, C. Fran Card based this on a true story about her granddaughter, Ceana, who was born with Cerebral Palsy. Since she was unable to find any children’s books to help Ceana learn about her disorder so she could prepare to discuss and deal with it once she started school, she decided to write a book just for her (Royal Blue Books). This makes Fran a perfect candidate for being an insider because she continued to watch Ceana grow with her disability while writing her book at the same time. The illustrations look just like Ceana, as well as how she acts in her daily life. The drawings look very realistic for all characters in the story as well. The illustrator did a phenomenal job of representing Ceana in the book. Even by the picture above, it is difficult to visualize her disability, which can confuse children at first until they read the story. The illustration is portrayed positively by showing how CP does not let the muscles in Ceana’s left leg do what she wants to do. Because of this characteristic, the illustration shows that when she walks, she swings her left leg out, and then it plops down. This book can teach children that even though she may have differences from others in some ways, she is still a child who laughs, plays, and loves her friends, family and pets just like they do.

This book can also help eliminate any prejudices that often begin out of misunderstandings during childhood. I think it was very appropriate that the author wanted to explain Ceana’s disability to her through books as early as age two. If children are educated at an early level, stereotypes will be less likely to occur. This is why this book is perfect for ages 3 to 7, in order to introduce the disability of Cerebral Palsy in a positive way. The author states in the text, “They do the exercises every day because Ceana has CP.” First of all, the author explains in the text that when people have CP they cannot move some of their muscles the way other people do. Some people with CP need assistance because of this so they may have crutches, a walker, or ride in a wheelchair. Secondly, the exercises are then able to loosen the muscles, even though CP never goes away. Since the author wrote, “has CP” this describes the disability through characteristics of importance to the situation, without imposing irrelevant meaning. Now Ceana’s character is not seen as a victim in this story, so certain stereotypes do not apply; therefore, this gives a positive description of her as well as her disability.