SuitabookLeft Out
Tim Green
- Reading
- If bullying or disability-related exclusion feels personal, read alongside the child and pause after school or football scenes. Talk through Landon’s choices and other characters’ behaviour rather than focusing only on whether he succeeds.
- Themes
- Belonging and exclusion: Landon hopes to join the school football team but is at risk of being left out. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Deafness and representation: Landon is deaf, uses cochlear implants and experiences difficulty connected with the way he talks. The story gives Landon an active role and a clear sporting ambition, while also describing deafness and communication as obstacles; the broader representational balance is uncertain.
- Friendship and determination: An unlikely friend appears when Landon is ready to give up, while Landon continues trying to earn a place on the field. Friendship and persistence are presented as important parts of the premise, but the precise balance between personal effort and support is not known.
- Worth knowing
- Notice how the story depicts Landon’s deafness, speech and cochlear implants: does it give him agency beyond proving himself, or mainly frame difference as an obstacle to overcome? The ending’s treatment remains unclear.