Keep Your Ear on the Ball

In KEEP YOUR EAR ON THE BALL, by Genevieve Petrillo and illustrated by Lea Lyon, everybody wants to help Davey. “Let me open that.” “Do you want to hold my hand?” Davey has one answer for all, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Davey is blind–and he is perfectly capable of doing everything on his own. His well-meaning classmates stop offering help when they see how able Davey is. They respect his self-reliance–until he tries to play kickball. After several missed kicks and a trampled base keeper, no one wants Davey on his team. Working together, the children figure out a way to offer help that respects Davey’s unique abilities and his desire for freedom. In this seamless tale, based on a true story, the children realize that interdependence can be just as important and rewarding as independence.

Available wherever books are sold.

WHY READ THIS BOOK?

Children exemplify interdependence when their highly independent blind friend wants to play kickball.

Topic:

Special needs.

Problem:

Sometimes people with disabilities are misunderstood and treated as though they are incapable.
“This is a wonderful story! It’s an inspiring example of how children are able to understand and respect differences in others—all on their own. This class used creativity and teamwork to include their classmate Davey in a game of kickball, and Davey learned that he can accept help from others and still remain independent.” -Maria Runyan, educator and runner, the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympics.

“Keep your Ear on the Ball is utterly charming and true to life! How do you go to school with a classmate who is blind? The children work out the answer in a practical, satisfying way. What I especially like about the story is the personality that comes across in the “can-do” attitudes of Davey and his classmates—American inventiveness and practicality wins again. By the way, I know ‘Davey’ today as an adult with a professional job, a wife, and children of his own. He is now helping blind students in his state to learn the can-do attitude that helped him so well when he was in Miss Petrillo’s class.” -Lorraine Rovig, National Federation of the Blind.
Genevieve Petrillo has been teaching elementary students at School Ten in Belleville, New Jersey, for thirty-four years. David DeNotaris was in her classroom many years ago, and Keep Your Ear on the Ball is a true story. She tells us: “David DeNotaris was in my class after I’d been teaching for about four or five years. The NJ Commission for the Blind offered a one-day summer ‘training’ session, which I attended, as had his kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade teachers before me. I learned a lot that day, but I had no idea how much more I was about to learn.”

Weight	1 lbs
Dimensions	9 x 10.00 x 1.016 in
Pages	32
Illustrator	Lea Lyon
ISBN	978-0-88448-296-3
Format	Hardcover
Author	Genevieve Petrillo