Rachna Gilmore

Statement by the 'jury' of the Governor General Literary awards: "This wonderful book is a carefully composed collection of moments during one of those days when parents experience exasperation. Rachna Gilmore, a talented author,magically captures a child's overbrimming love of life and irrepressible spirit of mischief and rebellion. This is not abook with a message; rather, it is a sweet story told in exquisite fashion. A Screaming Kind of Day is an engaging, "singing in the rain" book which children will love to read." I love that it doesn't focus on Scully's hearing impairment as the problem, or even as a hindrance, but as a normal part of life and something she even uses to her advantage.
**This one almost made my top 100 list, but in the end I chose another in its place. I won't say which one though!… (meer)

A Screaming Kind of Day is about a little girl named Scully who is deaf. The book starts off with her waking up to her brother in her face and she immediately declares that day as a screaming kind of day. She chooses not to put her hearing aids in and issues the excuse "can't hear" to ignore his antics. Her and her brother clearly fight very often and they get in Tory leadership because of it. While she's in her room for s timeout, she sneaks out to go and play in the rain. From the sound of it, it seems like rain is Scully's escape. The way the author explains how Scully feels when she finally gets outside is poetic. She uses personification and says the rain "hops, laughing all over" Scully. Eventually, Scully gets caught and gets in even more trouble for screaming in her mothers ears. Again, we get to see how much Scully loves rain when she says "mom doesn't know how it pulls at me. I'm not crying, the rain is." She falls asleep and wake up when it's dinner time and sees that the stars will be coming out soon and asks if she could watch the stars. When she gets outside, she turns her hearing aids all the way off and enjoys the silence and peace that comes with watching the night sky. The way the author also writes how Scully uses her other senses to hear is absolutely beautiful. She writes "the green shouts loud" and she "let's her arms listen to the rain." The poetic style that these are written in show just hoe different and important Scully's other senses are to her. Overall, the book was pretty good and it was nice to read about a child with a disability that doesn't allow it to define them.… (meer)