EaR Books: Written by Elizabeth Boschini and Illustrated by Rachel Chaikof

Today’s children with hearing loss may surprise you! With the help of cochlear implants, digital hearing aids, and specialized instruction in listening and spoken language, deaf children can learn to listen and speak, just like their hearing peers. According to the University of Michigan, over 100,000 people have received cochlear implants in the past 20 years. Children with hearing impairment, however, are rarely represented in children’s literature and cochlear implant technology is widely misunderstood.

To address these problems, Elizabeth Boschini, a student pursuing a degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Texas Christian University (TCU), and Rachel Chaikof, a bilateral cochlear implant user and student at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), created a new children’s book, Ellie’s Ears. Written by Boschini and illustrated by Chaikof, the story presents cochlear implants and deafness from the perspective of Ellie, a ten-year-old deaf girl with bilateral cochlear implants, as she explains her hearing loss to a new student in her mainstream 3rd grade class.

Paperback: $25.20, Hardcover: $32.50