Silent Observer

by Christy Mackinnon

The late author tells of growing up deaf in rural Nova Scotia at the turn of the century and her exchanges with Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, both of whom encouraged her to learn and to draw.

Genres: Picture Books, Disability

42 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

Reviews

[Salima Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Silent Observer" is a fantastic book because it's actually about the author's life as a young girl deafened from Winter Fever, or whooping cough. Throughout the book, she basically recalls what it was like living on the farm during these times, especially as a child that has lost her hearing. Although it was an unfortunate situation, I think that the author does a great job of focusing on the positive aspects of her life. I didn't feel like she was in any way victimizing herself for losing her hearing.

I chose this book because I felt that it might give me some insight when writing my book. I figured it may help me with the explanation of why the child's mother in my story is deaf. I may use this text in the classroom, simply because it shows students that people can become deaf for a variety of reasons. Not everyone is deaf because they were born that way. I would recommend this text to other teachers only if they were actually discussing the deaf community in their classroom.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a surprise. This little book is a combination of the stories by Laura Ingall Wilder's and the experiences of Helen Keller. Born in 1889, she lost her hearing at the age of two. Alexander Graham Bell visited the family. She attended the Halifax School for the Deaf where she met Helen Keller. [At this point, the story ends.] She studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and married in 1928. She died at the age of 92.

So I liked it and marveled at the strength of her family, but would this story appeal to kids? I think I would have liked it because the thought of being deaf would have been new to me.

[Lana Kamennof-sine]

A realistic book about rural life on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, beginning in 1889 with the birth of the narrator of this story, Christy. After a serious bout of whooping cough she lost her hearing. What follows is the true story how her family worked together to help her communicate.

[Emily Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was ok. It was wrote by Christy Mackinnon's niece who found illustrations and diary entries that Christy had wrote and drawn herself. The story was about Christy's life after losing her hearing at age two from whooping cough. It told of her struggle with being a deaf child but it also depicted the positive life she was able to have even through the hardships she endured as a young deaf child in the early 1900's. The story was a little all over the place to me, with gaps in places, but I understand that it would be hard to write a book about someone else's life after they are gone using only their diary and illustrations. I thought that it was interesting to be able to imagine life without hearing through Christy's perspective and it was also interesting that she met Helen Keller.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of graphic designer Christy MacKinnon, a person I had been unfamiliar with. She lost her hearing as a child due to illness. During the course of her life, she met Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller. This book is not only a good story, but it is compelling because it was sent to press by MacKinnon's niece, and is based on writings and illustrations left behind by the artist herself, who is credited as the author of this work. MacKinnon worked in New York in the early 1900s.