Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman w

Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman was published in 2000 by HarperCollins, and was a Printz Award honor book in 2001. This novel is narrated by fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who has Cerebral Palsy and has been diagnosed as “profoundly developmentally delayed.” Since Shawn has no control over any of his muscles, what his family, doctors and teachers don’t realize that he is actually incredibly smart, with a powerful memory and capacity to learn despite his physical limitations. Shawn’s father left his marriage and family because of the stress of caring for Shawn. He agonizes over what he perceives to be Shawn’s poor quality of life, complicated by multiple daily seizures that appear torturous (but which Shawn actually enjoys as a way to escape his physical trappings). Over the course of the novel, readers learn of Shawn’s father’s recent fascination with another father of a severely developmentally delayed boy, who “ended his son’s suffering” by suffocating him. Without any way to communicate his wish to live to his father, Shawn must wait to see what action his father will decide to take.

Trueman’s novel explores several intense issues in a short time. By writing the novel from Shawn’s perspective, Trueman encourages readers to consider what really happens inside the minds of those who cannot communicate with the outside world because of their disabilities. Additionally, through Shawn’s father’s emotional struggles, Trueman prompts us to consider parental responsibilities and roles as they make decisions about their children’s lives. Trueman does not attempt to answer these questions, but has struggled with them intensely in his own life as a father of a child with Cerebral Palsy. With his focus trained sharply on Shawn and his father, Trueman does not do much to develop the other characters in the book, especially the female characters. One of Shawn’s memories allows readers to understand his brother’s deeply protective feelings about Shawn, but we are not privy to any mixed feelings the brother has about Shawn’s condition (perhaps because the story is told from Shawn’s perspective, which naturally would not be exposed to these feelings). We don’t learn much about Shawn’s mother or sister in any way, except that they are stable presences within the home who sometimes feel frustrated with helping Shawn, but don’t air these feelings publicly or even privately in any detail. The most richly described, and therefore intensely felt, dynamic in the story is between father and son, which makes sense given the author’s background.

Multicultural literature, when well-written, provides a window for “outsiders” to see the authentic life experiences and perspectives of members of another group, in addition to providing a mirror in which members of the group depicted can see reflections of themselves. Stuck in Neutral faces a unique challenge, since the only true “insiders” of this group with Cerebral Palsy are presently unable to write books that authentically describe their lives. Because of his experiences as a father of a child with Cerebral Palsy, Trueman could have written a very authentic book focused on the lives of the family members of a person with C.P., and he does include some of those details as Shawn describes family members’ reactions to certain experiences like feeding him, or in the way he is almost forgotten at times as he sits in his wheelchair while the family life goes on around him. Shawn’s father’s struggle over how to best help his son is likely very authentic, given Trueman’s background. Instead of solely focusing on the family’s perspective, however, Trueman decided to write the book from the child’s perspective, imagining what the “real” world of a person with C.P. might be like. After being told by countless doctors and teachers that the inner world of a person with C.P. is filled with limited cognition and ability, Trueman decided to write a different possibility, where the child is very much mentally alive and functioning, with clear measures of joy and happiness in life. For now, we have no way of knowing whether or not Trueman got it right.

Because of the complex issues addressed in this text, it could be used in many critical literacy conversations in high school classrooms. Students could have rich debates about Trueman’s ideas about Shawn’s inner life, as well as the father’s search for answers about his son’s daily existence. The way Trueman ends the book allows readers to discuss and debate Shawn’s fate and the family’s future at length. The text could be easily incorporated into studies of disabilities and differences, as well as units on moral dilemmas or family dynamics. Because of the weighty subject matter, I would not recommend this text for students lower than ninth grade.

ผลลัพธ์ (อังกฤษ) 3:

In Stuck Neutral by Terry Trueman was published in 2000 by HarperCollins, and was a Printz Award honor book in 2001. This novel is narrated by fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who has Cerebral Palsy and has been diagnosed as "profoundly developmentally delayed." Since Shawn has no control over any of his muscles, what his family,doctors and teachers don' T realize that he is actually incredibly smart, and with a powerful memory capacity to learn despite his physical limitations. Shawn' s father left his marriage and family because of the stress of caring for Shawn. He agonizes over what he perceives to be Shawn' s poor quality of life,complicated by multiple seizures daily torturous that appear (but which actually Shawn enjoys as a way to escape his physical trappings). Over the course of the novel, readers learn of Shawn' s father' s recent fascination with another father of a severely developmentally delayed boy, who "ended his son's suffering" by suffocating him.Without any way to communicate his wish to live to his father, Shawn must wait to see what his father will decide to take action.

Trueman' s novel explores several intense issues in a short time. By writing the novel from Shawn' s perspective,Trueman encourages readers to consider what really happens inside the minds of those who cannot communicate with the outside world because of their disabilities. Additionally, through Shawn' s father' s emotional struggles, Trueman prompts us to consider parental roles and responsibilities as they make decisions about their children's lives. Trueman does not attempt to answer these questions,but has struggled intensely with them in his own life as a father of a child with Cerebral Palsy.With trained his focus sharply on Shawn and his father, Trueman does not do much to develop the other characters in the book, especially the female characters.One Shawn' s memories of allows readers to understand his brother' s deeply protective feelings about Shawn,but we are not privy to any brother has mixed feelings about the Shawn' s condition (perhaps because the story is told from Shawn' s perspective, which naturally would not be exposed to these feelings) .We don' T learn much about Shawn' s mother or sister in any way, except that they are stable presences within the home who sometimes feel frustrated with helping Shawn,but don' T air these feelings publicly or even privately in any detail.The most richly described, and therefore intensely felt, dynamic in the story is between father and son, which makes sense given the author's background.

Multicultural literature, when well-written, provides a window for "outsiders" to see the authentic life experiences and perspectives of members of another group,In addition to providing a mirror depicted in which members of the group can see reflections of themselves. Stuck in Neutral faces a unique challenge, since the only true "insiders" of this group with Cerebral Palsy are presently unable to write books that describe their lives authentically. Because of his experiences as a father of a child with Cerebral Palsy,Trueman could have written a very authentic book focused on the lives of the family members of a person with C.P., and he does include some of those details as Shawn describes family members' reactions to certain experiences like feeding him, or in the way he is almost forgotten at times as he sits in his wheelchair while the family life goes on around him.Shawn' s father' s struggle over how best to help his son is very likely authentic, given Trueman' s background. Instead of solely focusing on the family's perspective, however, Trueman decided to write the book from the child's perspective, imagining what the "real" world of a person with C.P. might be like.After being told by countless doctors and teachers that the inner world of a person with C.P. is filled with limited cognition and ability, Trueman decided to write a different possibility, where the child is very much mentally alive and functioning, with clear measures of happiness and joy in life. For now, we have no way of knowing whether or not Trueman got it right.

The Because complex of issues addressed in this text, it could be used in many critical literacy conversations in high school classrooms. Students could have rich debates about Trueman' s ideas about Shawn' s inner life, as well as the father's search for answers about his son's daily existence.way The Trueman ends the book allows readers to discuss and debate Shawn' s fate and the family' s future at length. The text could easily be incorporated into studies of disabilities and differences, as well as units on moral dilemmas or family dynamics. Because of the weighty subject matter, I would not recommend this text for students lower than ninth grade.