This is the true story of a young girl coming to the realization that her little sister has problems hearing and needs a hearing aide. A wonderful story with beautiful Illustrations. I highly recommend this for kids of all ages. Thanks to #netgalley for the advanced reader copy. I loved it.

This book is wrote from the perspective of the big sister about her little sister who couldn't hear very well. She didn't want to believe that her little sister had hearing issues but soon come round to the idea of her sister needing hearing aids. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Padapillo is a beautiful book illustrating the struggle a family goes through when a developmental issue arises with a child. It is particularly approachable as it is told through the view of a big sister.

As the mother of a (now adult) child on the spectrum, I especially appreciated how the issue and reactions were not overblown or hyped up. Dealing with differences is a common struggle, and a very real one, and it is always appreciated when we see things being treated seriously and respectfully.

Learn the signs. Act early. Everything is doable.

A beautiful story of two sisters and finding out that there was something wrong with a younger sister.

Having been deaf since birth, but not diagnosed until closer to two years of age, I really related to this book! It does a good job of reflecting the experience that a lot of families have in figuring out what is happening with their kid, and why their development seems off. This is one family's story, based on the true story of the author's daughter and tells the story from the family's perspective, not just the child's.
Definitely recommend this book for any family that wants to help their child understand what it means to be deaf.

In Valerie James Abbott’s new book, Padapillo, a girl notices strange things about her little sister. When their parents also notice the same things, the family begins the process to have Bridget’s hearing checked. After some doctor’s appointments, Bridget is diagnosed as hard of hearing and goes through the process of getting hearing aids.

Though this book is based on a true story, I feel like it misses a great opportunity. The Deaf community is often overlooked and spoken over/for by the hearing community. Placing the hearing sister as the main character just seems to amplify this aspect of discrimination. Having Bridget be the main character and talking about her experiences from her own point of view would have made for a much stronger story. When she receives the hearing aids, they are treated as a miracle. Hearing aids can definitely be helpful but have their own issues. No mention of using sign language is made throughout the book.

This book most likely appeals to hearing families who want their child to grow up oral and exclusively in the hearing community.

This book was so heart warming. I am so thankful that books like this exist to help children understand those who may be different from them. I loved this so much

I am grateful for this book and the awareness it brings to the Audiologist profession, children who are hard of hearing, and the use of hearing aids. We need more books like this to explain to children and teach them. I am a speech-language patholgoist and I will be shareing with book with my other friends who work with children.

This book will be an effective resource to help build understanding around hearing loss in children, be it for families, teachers helping initiate a class discussion, or doctor's offices.. Telling this story from the older sister's perspective was very clever, and it is a welcome reminder that everyone in the family is affected by change-- not just the child with hearing loss. Parents will deeply appreciate the abundance of resources at the end, as well as the visual diagram on how hearing aids work. Nicely done!

Thank you to NetGalley and KWE Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Padapillo is an educational picture book about hearing loss in children. It's told from the perspective of Mary Clare, the protective older sister of Bridget. Mary Clare notices that Bridget is acting "weird". She doesn't seem to be able to hear a lot of things, like doorbells and phones ringing, and most notably is having trouble pronouncing certain words. Mary Clare informs their parents, and soon after the whole family ends up at the audiologist- a doctor who specializes in hearing and hearing loss.
Padapillo is both informative and comforting. It contains a few diagrams of the human ear and hearing aids, as well as definitions for new words that are introduced. It touches on the fear that comes with any diagnosis and reminds kids that it's okay to be afraid but important to listen to the professionals and take care of your health. As an older sibling and someone who had hearing loss for a big chunk of my childhood, I appreciated Mary Clare's instinctual defense of her sister, although I wish the book made a bigger point of reminding the people around Bridget that there's nothing wrong with needing hearing aids.
All in all, Padapillow is a great book to read to kids who have or know someone who has hearing loss.

This important and educational story is told through the eyes of a big sister named Mary Clare. She notices that her little sister Bridget is acting weird and her actions and word formations are strange. She is very protective of Bridget and this "off" behaviour goes unnoticed by the rest of the family. Finally the whole family realizes that something is definitely not right with their wee daughter. They arrange to take Bridget to a special doctor where most of the people in the waiting room are mostly grownups or grandparents. Whatever can be happening she wonders?

Her little sister is examined and the prognosis is .... she has hearing loss! This heartfelt story is about a journey of discovery and healing. Once diagnosed Bridget receives beautiful pink hearing aids and the whole world opens up for her.

The illustrations enrich the storyline and I especially like that the illustrator includes a diagram of a labeled hearing aid. The book does an excellent job of explaining the process of a visit to an audiologist, the testing necessary, and the fitting and adjusting of the hearing aids. The author includes extra resources at the end of the book which parents, caregivers and educators will find very helpful. The author wraps things up beautifully by saying :

"Because next to love, hope is the most powerful fuel of the human spirit. "
"May our story inspire others to take notice, take action, follow their own path, and hold onto hope."

I highly recommend this book.

An amazing book for families with a child going through this or classrooms with a hard of hearing or deaf child. It is interesting to see it told through the eyes of the sister and her range of emotions throughout the diagnoses and treatment. I loved seeing this acknowledgment of the sibling's feelings of anger, confusion and then acceptance rather than just the protagonist's point of view on the situation, but I think that a combination of the two might have been better here. The inclusion of extra resources at the end was great to see.

This was a realistic read for kids who have siblings or someone close to them that has a disability. The book showed a variety of emotions about it, and those feelings definitely need to be normalized!

It’s a good educational book, although as a disabled librarian I gravitate more towards own voices materials for disability literature. Having said that, it’s educational and probably good for siblings of those who experience hearing loss.

Padapillo is the story of a young girl's identification as deaf/hard of hearing, but told through her sister's eyes. I wanted to love this book, but I found the sister's angle to be off-putting. The vast majority of the story identifies the younger sister's behavior as weird, strange, and wrong, with her sister being very angry about hearing assessments. While it is true that there may be a variety of feelings around this journey, I felt those feelings could be explored without the implications of the language used. Even in the end, they continue to use language that can be quite exclusionary. I wish that the younger sister's perspective had been centered more.

* I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Padapillo explores the impact of a child's hearing impairment on the family in a gentle manner suitable for young children. It explores the confusion and anger felt by the protagonists sister, the journey, the medical appointments the parents make to find help for their child and find a diagnosis and then the initial excitement of the protagonist upon hearing and also how scary the world of sound can be. I loved reading this story with my daughter as she has a deaf friend, who wears cochlear implants and it gave her a better understanding of the difficulties faced. I would have loved some more detail on the child's journey with sound and also an acceptance of it being okay to also remove those implants and be part of the deaf community and what that entails.

This is a great book for a child who may be struggling with a disability such as hearing loss, or even has a friend or family member struggling. The book explained the hearing loss and hearing aids nicely, in a way children could understand.

In Padapillo, Abbott tells the story of a young girl's diagnosis of hearing loss and the role it played on her and her family. Told from the perspective of an older sister, Padapillo showcases the frustrations of a family during the journey to diagnosis in a beautiful and accurate way. This book would be great to read in families going through the process and also to full classrooms that have a student with hearing aids. Abbott also included resources for families at the end of her book which was a great addition. The illustrations were nice enough for older students but may not be engaging with younger children.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What a useful book for children who have to deal with someone close to them needing a hearing aid.

Super informative, would recommend