Illustration Evaluation: Sosu's Call

Sosu's Call follows a boy, Sosu, who lives in a narrowed village with his mom, dad, brother and sister, and dog Fafa.  The catch, he has weak legs, so he cannot walk.  Because of his disability, he cannot go to school or provide any helpfulness to his village.  He was seen as bad luck by other villagers, their beliefs drove Sosu to remain at home during the days, not doing anything of use.  Until one day when a storm comes and no one in the village is there to protect it.  Sosu and Fafa band together and go for the drums so that they can call for the villagers.  The journey is difficult and dangerous, Fafa leading the way.  Then, without even knowing how to play the drums, Sosu starts banging on them.  This leads the villagers to come and save everyone, but it was Sosu and Fafa that saved the village with their call.  Sosu is asked what he would like, and he said to walk and go to school.  So in return, Sosu is given a wheelchair and access to school, being rung up as a hero.

The importance of this story is that any child that's disabled should be given a chance, that every single human has a purpose and a place in society.  There are still so many disabled people who are treated terribly, without any means of communicating for themselves or defending themselves they get shunned or worse, hurt.  Disabled is nothing but a label, a title that gives people pause.  But what it should be instead seen as is awareness that accommodations need to be made.  Once those accommodations are made, and trust me this country has the power to make those possible, then people with disabilities can be an effective part of society through and through.

As for the illustrations, I would like to note that they do a very good job at depicting a poorer village. Showcasing rustic clothing, brittle homes, and a dusty atmosphere (in the air and on the people's skin).  However, these illustrations, just by looking at them, don't tell the same story.  If I couldn't read, then I wouldn't know that the boy was officially disabled, nor would I be able to completely understand his displeasure with it.  It is not until the end that facial expressions and mood changes in the story.  The last piece of the illustrations I enjoyed was that the features of the African-decent peoples in this story seemed to be culturally accurate.  I can't replace the color to see a caucasian man or woman, an asian man or woman, or any other culture.