Great for ages 4-6. I think this is a great book for a child with hearing loss getting ready to receive her hearing aid. Also great for children interested in learning more about hearing loss or know someone with hearing loss.

I had high hopes for this book about a little girl with a hearing loss, especially when I saw the enchanting illustrations. But I was disappointed in the text.

Almigal starts by telling us she considers herself lucky, even though she wears hearing aids and misses a lot of sounds.

Then, she tells us she is sad and unlucky because she can’t hear everything.

She gets an operation for cochlear implants, and now she feels happy and lucky again.

Objections:

First, I found the dialogue a bit stilted. Rather than sounding like the story was told by a girl Almigal’s age, to me, it sounded more like a story told by an adult trying to speak simpler.

In addition, Almigal flips back and forth: first she says she is happy and lucky, then she says the very same circumstances make her sad and unlucky. Then we go back to the beginning. Why? Because she has had a $40,000-plus procedure for cochlear implants.

Many insurance plans do not cover this procedure, or only cover it in part. Moreover, it is not effective for all types of hearing loss. Thus this book might give the wrong impression both to those with hearing impairments and those without. And those who could benefit from cochlear implants but whose parents cannot afford it are now told how unhappy and unlucky they are.

Finally, the use of this procedure is extremely controversial, especially within the deaf community. In an article summarizing the arguments on both sides of the issue, authors Delost and Lashley of MacMurray College include the observation that:

"Doctors and parents tend to see the child as missing something and view the deafness as a disability that must be fixed to make the child "normal" or whole again. This attitude can have serious social and emotional implications (Stewart-Muirhead). A child who is told she is "broken" and needs to be fixed will forever see herself as less of a person because of her deafness."

This problem comes to the fore in this book because of the fact that the “happiness and luckiness” of hearing with the implants is not available to all children for the reasons stated above.

On the positive side, the illustrations by Tammie Lyon are stellar. Lyon has made Almigal and her friends as cute as they can be.

Evaluation: Not recommended except for the small population of children who (a) have hearing impairments that can benefit from cochlear implants and (b) have the financial means to obtain the implants if they need and want them. Those who do meet these special circumstances and/or their family and acquaintances will undoubtedly love this story. ( )

what a wonderful book and a great subject, one that is not discussed much, if ever.
The illustrations are wonderfully fun and reminiscent of the “Fancy Nancy” books
Almigal is a happy spitfire of a little girl who just wants to hear, she wants to hear everything! The birds outside, her ballet music, her friends but, most of all she wants to hear her mommy and daddy telling her how much they love her.
She has many friends and each one is different and special and when she gets her new cochlear implants she has a lot fun with her two puppies and a certain incident with a swimming pool
This is a great, fun and very informative book and I am glad it is on my Children’s bookshelf ( )

Overall I thought this was a good book for children. There is a great message that I believe the writer delivered. It could have been a bit shorter because it was a bit repetitive. Hence, the reason for my 4 stars. Although sometimes that could be a good thing for a younger child. Maybe this was the intent for the writer; get the child to take in the message by repeating it. At which point I would give it 5 stars. ( )

Almigal is unable to hear until she receives cochlear implants. Although I thought that the premise of this children's book was good, I found the writing a bit poor. Not only is it a bit repetitive, but it is written in a jumble of past and present tense. The illustrations were cute and well drawn, but overall I was a bit disappointed. ( )