Medieval Mashup

Medieval Mashup is a picture book about three friends raiding a garage to find items to make costumes for a medieval dressup day. Leigh, a boy in a wheelchair, has some normal kid anxieties about not wanting to look silly matched with some anxieties about navigating in his wheelchair in particular costumes. His friends give lots of a ideas that involve hiding him and the wheelchair, including a large box and a giant bucket. Leigh becomes frustrated (imagine if your friends kept giving you ridiculous costume advice that involves not being able to move or see) and he takes a little break. When he comes back he and his friends find the perfect materials to make a great costume. I like this book because it is a story about a child in a wheelchair that is not about being in a wheelchair yet it still demonstrates some of the day to day challenges people with disabilities face. His friends do not treat him any differently (despite maybe making some not very nice costume suggestions that would actually be hiding the wheelchair) and show him participating in an activity with other kids his age. I think it is so important for children to see a variety of characters in stories demonstrating their diverse interactions with our world and communities without being focused on their diversity. Yes, the wheelchair is a part of this story, as it is for anyone who needs a wheelchair, but this is not a story about wheelchairs and people in wheelchairs, it is a story about how some kids have anxiety about dressing up and this is only magnified when you add the challenge of being disabled and attempting to navigate an able-body designed world, which is unfortunately a fact of life for many people with disabilities.

As a grade 3 teacher I could definitely see this book in my classroom library. I would recommend this book for parents and teachers of children in the 4-9 age range, especially those looking to diversify their book collections. I so appreciate Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this great book!