Book Review: Owning It edited by Jen Campbell, James Catchpole, & Lucy Catchpole

[ID: a white and green book with illustrations of a variety of disabled kids including a child with short hair and pale skin and a leg prothestic playing guitar, kids in wheelchairs playing, two brown children siting together, a Black child with crutches and a child with pale skin sitting in a wave of musical notes. The figures intertwine with leaves and greenery with a white center in the middle with “Owning It Our Disabled Childhoods” in orange text. “In our Own Words” is written in an orange speech bubble. The book sits in front of a stack of vintage books with their yellowing edges showing on a white shelf with a spray of fake orange orchids. A white stone circle necklace with a silver chain hangs to the right of the stack.]

OWNING IT is a lovely anthology that contains a variety of stories from disabled authors about their childhoods.

OWNING IT is at turns funny, empowering, and bittersweet. I loved seeing the variety of experience that this book encompasses. It’s diverse in terms of disabilities, geography, and identity, which I really appreciated.

The label “disabled” covers such a wide spectrum. I found some pieces to be very relatable to my personal experience of disability while others were completely different and eye-opening. I’m so glad that middle grade readers gets to hear these writers’ stories!

I was familiar with a few of the writers included in this anthology like Carly Findlay, Imani Barbarin, and Kendra Winchester but it also introduced me to many new, exciting voices that I would like to read more from!

My one quibble with this book was a piece by Jessica Kellgren-Fozard. She tries to tell her story as a comedy, but to be quite honest it’s not funny. She was failed on every imaginable level and I think what she experienced as a child was medical neglect and abuse. I know humor is a coping mechanism but I wanted her to state very plainly how unacceptable her treatment was. I don’t want younger readers to read this kind of story and think that adults ignoring and gaslighting a sick child is in any way acceptable.

Besides that one piece, I think readers young and old will find value, empathy, and interest in this collection! I hope maybe someday Kellgren-Fozard will be able to tackle her story in a different way and perhaps unpack the trauma of her medical experience…