My Silent World

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Author: Nette Hilton

Illustrator: Vincent Agostino

Publisher: Melbourne, Vic.: Lothian Children's Books 2009






In contrast to typical disability literature that usually depicts characters with excessive desire to belong, My Silent World centralizes a deaf child who celebrates her silent world and identifies her cochlear implant as a monster that is threatening in its tendency to admit disturbing and distressing intruder sounds.

More to highlight he deaf child’s agency, the narration is in first-person, and everything is presented from her point of view. So, the readers are presented with a stream of consciousness narrative told by a central deaf child, align with her, and relate to her joyful rendition of a visual silent world. Illustrations also centralize the protagonist and serve to give visual emphasis to the same significance conveyed by the verbal text. The use of bright colors, bold shapes and strong outlines mixed with a veritable whirlwind of sights helps us to visualize the busyness of the world, despite its lack of sound in a deaf child’s world.


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