Kirbi Fagan | Stories By Hand with Kathy MacMillan

Dreams Take Flight: The Story of Deaf Pilot Nellie Zabel Willhite by Brittany Richman and Alisha Monnin
Summary: After losing her hearing at four and following a tumultuous education, Nellie Zabel was introduced to the world of flight while working at the Sioux Falls airport. The planes and pilots captured her imagination as she watched them sail alongside the birds. With some encouragement, she enrolled in pilot training–carefully tailoring the courses to accommodate her deafness. In 1928, she took off on her own, becoming the first female pilot in South Dakota–and the first deaf pilot in the nation.

This lovely nonfiction picture book tells the true story of Nellie Zabel Willhite, who became the first licensed deaf pilot in the US. The world was far from accommodating when she was growing up as a deaf child in the early 1900s, but with a combination of her own persistence and the support of caring adults, she got an education and found a job. But when she finally took the flying lessons she had been dreaming of, her life took off. This story features an inspiring woman at its center, but it is also a great discussion-starter about intersectional identities and the various barriers that marginalized people throughout history have faced.

DREAMS TAKE FLIGHT is out now.

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We Are the Scrappy Ones by Rebekah Taussig and Kirbi Fagan
Summary: We are the scrappy ones. / We live, we adapt, we defy. / Made of stardust and grit, we are spectacular.
Children with disabilities experience the world in all kinds of ways. Yet one thing they share is navigating a world that doesn’t always make space for them as they are. Existing on the edges can feel unfair—and downright exhausting. And at the exact same time, it can also foster creativity, resourcefulness, and adaptability. In a word, scrappiness.

In lyrical prose overflowing with gorgeous imagery, author and disability advocate Rebekah Taussig celebrates the unique and authentic experiences of children with disabilities: “We might move slowly or in zigzags, but we thrum our own tempos to beautiful songs.” Taussig’s text flows with Kirbi Fagan’s evocative pastel, colored pencil, and collage illustrations, which showcase the diversity of the disability experience. Yes, medical devices, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and guide dogs appear, but always the focus is on the agency of the children interacting with their world. This book is a glorious ode to the spirit of disabled children, acknowledging that “[the] burden we carry is the weight of a world that wasn’t built with us in mind.” Especially powerful is the section highlighting “revolutionaries thinking of you before you were born, fighting to get this world ready for you.” (Those revolutionaries, all members of the disability community, are featured in more detail in the back matter and each one is someone all kids and adults should learn about!) The core message is as simple as it is necessary: you are not alone. A beautiful, moving, and necessary picture book for all collections.

WE ARE THE SCRAPPY ONES is out now.

Bonus recommendation: Check out my review of Rebekah Taussig’s excellent memoir, Sitting Pretty.

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