LunaandtheUniverseSchneider.pptxSchneider Family Book Award!
The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
It was first awarded in 2004. This category for books was founded by Dr. Katherine Schneider, who was the first blind student to graduate from the Kalamazoo Public School system.
On the next page, we will start a book that embodies an “adaptive ability” from the experience and perspective of a child named Luna.
By Kelly Meusborn, Kayley Stagnaro, Filzah Saif, Michael Luchini, & Morgan Childers
Illustrated by Kelly Meusborn
“Morning, Luna!”, my dad says as he and my mom open my door.
Mom looks into my eyes. She asks me how I am feeling right now. Today, I want to get up.
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At school, the day seems to drag by. Recess is my only escape. I run to the edge of the blacktop and sit in the grass. I like to color the dandelions and the trees and the birds. I use orange for the tree leaves. I reach for my red crayon. Then my blue crayon, and my yellow crayon. I use yellow for the flowers. Then the sky turns pink!
At home, Mom asks me how I am feeling right now. Sometimes the words are hard to find.
I open my sketchbook and then I show her.
She smiles and tells me how beautiful it is.
The next day, Dad comes in to wake me up, I do not want to get out of bed today.
My dad says, “Luna, you have to go to school.’ He grabs my crayons and backpack and sits on my bedside, “you can always draw what you feel”.
Somedays I lose interest in my art. I am glad I have it though because I can look back and remember that
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In class I am greeted by my teacher, Ms. Avani. She is my sixth grade teacher. She reads us a story about a blue bird in the sky. She continues to tell us about how the blue bird got lost in the clouds. She stops after the chapter, and asks us to write about it, but I do not feel like doing it. I do not feel like doing anything at all. Ms. Avani notices and tells me, “if you want you can draw how the chapter made you feel”.
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I grab my sketchbook and just put down a dot. Then some more dots and some lines. I wrote a little, too.
At recess today, the other kids ask to play with me. I say no, I just want to be alone. I do not know why...I should want to play with them. I walk along the edge of the fence. I look down at my feet. I count to four and start again. I like the rhythm, it keeps me from being overcome by the clouds.Today I fill a page in my sketchbook with what I see at my feet.
I feel really tired, I didn’t want to eat anything this morning, but Dad told me that it could help me focus in school. I have a hard time paying attention when I am tired like this.
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Sometimes I can control the tears. Sometimes I can’t. This time I can’t. I hate this part.
When it is time to go back to class, we line up in single file line. I am at the back. Riley runs up from behind and stumbles into me. Riley snickers and says, “Are you going to cry like a little baby again, Go on CRY!”
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Most of the other kids in line laugh along with Riley. One girl was walking over to me when Ms. Avani stops the chaos. She distracts the kids and tells us to all look at her. She says, “It is time to start a new project! An art project!”
I grab my sketchbook and fill pages as fast as I can. I color. I scribble. I make zig-zags. I make criss-crosses. I use blue and purple and red and black and green and orange. I do not know where my yellow crayon is. I do not know why I have my blue crayon. As I continue filling my sketchbook pages my thoughts are jumbled.
Ms. Avani comes to my desk. She asks me what I am creating.
I hadn’t really thought about it as I was scribbling through my sketchbook, but I take a good look at my creation and I say, “I am making the dark side of the moon”.
She says, “I like all the colors, Luna!”
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Once art class is done, we form into groups for our astronomy lesson. I am in a group with a few others kids... and Riley.
Ms. Avani talks about how the moon is a huge friend of the Earth. The moon is thought of as having two sides, but there are many more parts of the moon that we should know. The moon has craters and mountains and it pulls the ocean tides all the way on Earth! She says that the moon gives off light from the Sun at night. Sometimes the moonshine and the moon cannot be seen because of the clouds.
She tells us to remember that the moon is always there above us. Some Days it will give off light. Some days it will be a little darker. Sometimes the clouds block the Sun and the Moon!Sometimes when there are clouds, there is rain. Raindrops are like the tears of a cloudy sky. Once it rains, things like flowers can grow. Things like my dandelions!
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She asks us to talk in our groups. I do not feel like talking to Riley or the other kids who laughed. I hold my sketchbook close to me, even though art class is over.
“Hi”, Marisol says as she sits next to me.
She sees my drawings. “Why are your pages so blue?”, Marisol asks me.
I shrug.
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“I lost my yellow.” I want to add yellow immediately and make it yellow, not blue.
“I found a crayon! Is it yours?” She hands me a yellow crayon.
“I like how you draw, Luna. You see things in your own unique way. Use the yellow when you feel like it.”
“Thanks, Marisol” I smile and place the crayon in my pocket.
At home, I show Mom and Dad my sketches.
They see a blue moon. My parents have always told me that I was named after the moon in the night sky, but looking at my drawing I began to wonder why.
I ask Mom and Dad , “why did you name me Luna?”
They reply, “We love how the moon is a giant ball spinning in the sky doing amazing things for the Earth, just like how you are doing amazing things here for us.”
Sometimes I don’t feel like I am doing amazing things for anyone, I just want to sleep. Sometimes I don’t want to see anyone, even my friends.
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At recess, I see Marisol wearing rainbow pants with a blue shirt today. She asks me how I am doing.
I shrug. She nods understandingly. She must have noticed something yesterday. She asks me if I want to play with and her the other kids. I shake my head, “I think I am fine here, thanks though.”
She nods again, smiles and says she will be on the monkeybars if I want to play.
I grab my sketchbook. I draw my feet again. I draw some blue grass. And as I am reaching for another color...
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...Riley runs by and grabs my sketchbook out of my hands. He looks and says grass can’t be blue! And drops the book and runs off with his friends. I pick it up and dust it off. I look at my drawings and think to myself, “ I like how it looks.”
I hold my blue and yellow crayons in my hand. I start drawing my moon. I can make grass blue, I can make my leaves yellow, and I can make my moon green! Some days I can draw anything. I look at all the yellow on my page and it makes me think of Marisol.
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Marisol is on the monkey bars. I grab a bar and swing up. As we are dangling from the monkey bars, I tell her, “sometimes I don’t want to play, but don’t know why. I would still like to be your friend.”
‘Sometimes I don’t want to play for days’, I think, looking away.
She looks over with a smile and says “that’s ok, being friends with you is better than not”.
We hear the clashing chains of the swings and look over and see Riley swinging with his friends, going up
Up….and UP….
until… fa-thud crunch!
Riley falls off the swing and down onto the bark!
The other kids all started and began to whisper to each other, some even pointing and laughing at Riley. Even his friends!
Riley, with his cheeks bright red, began to get tears in his eyes.
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Marisol and I see the other kids start to point and go to Riley and help him up.
I tell Riley that he can play with us on the monkeybars.
We all grab a bar and swing back up and hang upside down from the monkey bars.
“Thank you for letting me play with you guys” Riley says. “And I am sorry that I called you a crybaby and dropped your book, you have great art!”.
Luna looked at Riley and smiled, she could see that behind Riley’s tough guy act, he was a kid that wasn't much different than herself.
We hear the bell and get back on our feet and run back together.
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When school ends, I walk out of class and see my mom waiting to pick me up.
“Hi, Luna! How was school?”
I reply, “Today I woke up blue, and I didnt know why, but now I’m ok. Hopefully this feeling stays till tomorrow. I also made some new friends and learned about space and all the sides of the moon!”
“That is spectacular!”, Mom responds as we climb into the car.
Sitting in my car seat, I grab my sketchbook again, this time, I draw a yellow moon so I would remember today when things get a little blue.
Tomorrow, I know I may wake up as any color, but I am glad I have my yellow crayon for when I am ready.
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WHAT’S BEHIND THE NAME?
“Luna”
Usage Roman Mythology, Italian, Spanish, English
Pronounced LOO-nə (English)
Means "the moon" in Latin. Luna was the Roman goddess of the moon, frequently depicted driving a white chariot through the sky.
“Marisol”
Usage Spanish
Pronounced mar-ee-SOL
Combination of MARÍA and SOLor SOLEDAD. It also resembles Spanish mar y sol "sea and sun".
“Avani”
Usage Indian, Marathi, Gujarati
Scripts अवनी(Marathi) અવની(Gujarati)
Means "earth" in Sanskrit.
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About Luna…
Luna is living with a generalized mood disorder; she has trouble regulating her emotions the same way as her peers and experiences wild swings in her day to day or even her moment to moment thoughts and emotions. Luna is using art and writing as a way of self regulating and communicating her emotions, emotions that we, even as readers of her thoughts, are often left to interpret. Too often, children with mood disorders are labeled as “bad” or “challenging” and are written off as not worth the effort. Luna’s art advocates and provides a voice for her in a way every child living with mood disorder deserves. We are all, in some ways, Luna, but it is the hope the authors that if you see a bit of yourself in Luna… be that humanizing voice for those that can’t, and if you are Luna, our hope is that she helps add to your own story, and with it your voice.
Let’s Start a Conversation...
During a child's developmental years, they are constantly growing and changing. It is imperative to note that one must keep this in mind when diagnosing and treating emotional and behavioral disorders in children. If a problem, is not temporary or short-lived, then should parents seek out a trained and qualified professional to help their children. Health professionals once thought that brain disorders such as bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, or even depression occurred after childhood but now, it is widely held that these brain disorders can begin in early childhood. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), emotional and behavioral disorders affect 10-15 percent of children globally. One of particular childhood-onset mental disorder that is widely studied, treated, and diagnosed is ADHD, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and the NIMH cites that 3-5 percent of children globally suffer from this disorder.
Mental Health America | 1.800.273.TALK (8255)
