★ 取材自聽障詩人Raymond Antrobus親身經歷，讓大小讀者對聽障者有多一點的了解和同理

 

　　小熊可以「感覺」到周遭的世界。當爸爸早上叫醒他時，他可以感覺到床在搖動；當老師踩踩地板要他注意時，他感覺到地板的震動；但總是有一點不對勁，例如有時當朋友在說笑話時，他不確定他聽得懂，或是他不知道為什麼大家老是問他「熊會滑雪嗎？」（Can bears ski?）。

 

　　於是有天，爸爸帶小熊去看「聽-力-師」，小熊才發現原來自己聽力一直有問題。戴上助聽器之後，小熊的世界突然響亮了起來，甚至有點太響亮了！小熊聽懂了大家一直問他的問題原來是「你聽得到嗎？」（Can you hear me?）現在開始，小熊的世界充滿了新鮮的事，他需要一點時間適應，但在爸爸的幫助之下，一切都會沒問題！

 

　　《Can Bears Ski?》取材自作者——2019年獲泰德．休斯獎（Ted Hughes Award）的聽障詩人Raymond Antrobus的親身經歷，繪者則是半失聰的英國插畫家波莉．鄧巴（Polly Dunbar）。Antrobus希望能透過這本書，讓那些對聽障不了解或有負面想法的人，對聽障者可以有多一點的了解和同理。

 

　　Is Little Bear ignoring his friends when they say hi, or is something else going on? A discovery opens new doors in a tale that will delight kids with deafness and all children learning to navigate their world.

 

　　Little Bear feels the world around him. He feels his bed rumble when Dad Bear wakes him up in the morning. He feels the floor shake when his teacher stomps to get his attention. But something else is missing, like when his friends tell jokes that he isn’t sure he understands, or when all around him Little Bear hears the question, “Can bears ski?” Then, one day, Dad Bear takes him to see an “aud-i-olo-gist,” and Little Bear learns that he has been experiencing deafness and will start wearing hearing aids. Soon he figures out what that puzzling refrain is: “Can you hear me?” Little Bear’s new world is LOUD and will take some getting used to, but with the love and support of Dad Bear, he will find his way. In this lyrical picture book, award-winning creators Raymond Antrobus and Polly Dunbar draw on their own experiences to tell Bear's story.

 

　　Review

　　As with many picture books addressing specific issues, the main audience for this book will be children with a similar experience, who will surely delight in seeing the little bear wearing their hearing aids and learning to navigate the world. However, all young readers will enjoy figuring out just what “Can bears ski?” is supposed to mean and will benefit from learning about being hard of hearing, including how to talk to a hard-of-hearing person. Gently and thoughtfully teaches about being a hard-of-hearing kid.

　　—Kirkus Reviews

 

　　The book realistically avoids a magic wand approach and acknowledges the cognitive strain of working to hear people (and the normal kid strain of having to keep track of small, easy-to-misplace devices). Dunbar’s digital art recalls the work of Laura Vaccaro Seeger in its sturdy coziness, and the love between Dad and child is evident in every shared scene. This would be a useful partner to those books about kids learning they need glasses, and it would also help ease the way of youngsters going the hearing aid route.

　　—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

 


Raymond Antrobus is a deaf poet and teacher. He has won the Ted Hughes Award and became the first poet to be awarded the Rathbones Folio Prize. About Can Bears Ski?, his first picture book, he says, ＂It’s the book I could see myself reaching for as a child, and I can’t wait to have it exist in the world.＂ He lives in England.

Polly Dunbar is a partially deaf author-illustrator who has created several books for young children. Her works include Penguin, Hello Tilly, Pretty Pru, Good Night, Tiptoe, and A Lion Is a Lion. She is also the illustrator of Pat-a-Cake Baby and Here’s a Little Poem, among other titles. She lives in England.