SuitabookLight a Single Candle
Beverly Butler
- Reading
- Discuss the events gradually, allowing space for feelings about blindness, friendship and independence. Ask what Cathy wants in each situation, rather than assuming other characters’ intentions or her eventual outcome.
- Themes
- Responses to disability: After Cathy loses her sight, one friend avoids her while another gives her too much kindness. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Independence and challenge: Cathy completes a demanding training course with Trudy, her guide dog, then faces returning to public high school. The book?s stance on this remains unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Pay attention to whether Cathy is presented as an active person with varied relationships, rather than mainly through blindness. Notice how friendship, kindness, training and independence are handled.