Litchfield, Ada B. A Button in Her Ear. Morton Grove, IL: Albter Whitman & Company, 1976.This book tells the story of a young girl, in elementary school, who needs a hearing aid. The girl keeps hearing things people say the wrong way and doesn't quite understand what people are saying. So her parents take her to a few doctors, and ultimately, an audiologist; who prescribes a hearing aid for her. Once she learns how to use the hearing aid, she brings it to school and shows everyone at school. This book was pretty specific in defining the process of getting a hearing aid and was named "A Concept Book" on the title page.
I felt this book was a great way to introduce kids to the idea of having a hearing aid. The girl in the story embraced her hearing impairment and was proud to show off her hearing aid. She did not complain about the hearing aid, and made it seem like it was something magical. I felt this was a great book for kids who are having trouble accepting hearing impairments because it shows hearing impairments in a positive light, and the character is seen as a girl doing things like everybody else, just with a "magic button" in her ear to help her hear better. The only part in the book that made me feel uncomfortable was when she saw her audiologist, Ms. Brown, who was an African American woman. I felt that was a very stereotypical name, and that could have been because of the era it was published and/or written in, but I felt there could have been a better name for her audiologist. Other than that, I felt it was a great book for kids, it was charming for adults to read, and on the last page when she tunes her friend out when he yells at her, it was funny!
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