LeoNora M. Cohen

Harriot's Chariot

Harriet's Chariot is about a little girl who is in a terrible accident and has to use a wheel chair. When she returns to school after a long period in the hospital, she is teased and bullied about her injured legs. The story focuses on how she overcomes this problem with the help of her teacher and her mother.

A contest is set up for the students, challenging them to move the wheel chair as quickly as they can from start line to finish line, their times recorded on a chart by the teacher. This helps classmates recognize how hard it is to move oneself in a wheel chair. Even the bully acknowledges Harriet's wheelchair as a chariot of fire, she goes so fast!

The story is bilingual, written in English and Spanish. The illustrations by Fernanda Miguel Godinez Zuñiga, a student at EEESMA, a school for the deaf in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, captures the story in a charming and refreshing way, allowing the reader to make sense of the second language through the pictures. For deaf students, Mexican Sign Language is their first language, Spanish is their second, and English is third.

All proceeds from this book benefit the Escuela de Educación Especial San Miguel de Allende (EEESMA), the school for deaf children, which makes such a huge difference in these students' lives.

About the Artist: Fernanda Miguel Godinez Zuñiga

Fernanda, a talented young artist, is a student at the Escuela de Educación Especial de San Miguel de Allende (EEESMA), a school for the deaf.  She is the oldest of three children, the only one in her family born unable to hear, so communicating has been a challenge. Fernanda completed middle school and is finishing high school. She attends both the public school system near her home in Dolores Hidalgo and EEESMA, improving her use of Mexican Sign Language and Spanish as a second language. At the school, she attends the sewing workshop, demonstrating great potential that combines with her artistic abilities. She would love a career in fashion design. Fernanda was 19 when she created the pictures for this story and is grateful for the opportunity to illustrate this book.