Frank, Mustard and Simon Calcavecchia

My name is Simon Calcavecchia and I am a children’s book author, motivational speaker and disability awareness advocate.

In 2002, I was injured in a rugby accident which left me with quadriplegia. After spending several months in rehabilitation I decided to go to college and after 4 years I emerged with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Evergreen State College. After graduating, I tried to find work with the help of the Department of Vocational Rehab but struggled to find any opportunity for employment.

I found myself floundering and depressed. I sought guidance from a counselor and it was suggested that I start volunteering in order to give me a sense of purpose and community. It worked! I began volunteering at local schools, a local theater, the co-op and finally at the children’s museum. It was there that I discovered there weren't any books which included characters with disabilities. This inspired me to create a book series and share my stories with kids about living with disabilities and using a wheelchair..

After a year of hard work, Arturo Alvarez and I created The Adventures of Frank and Mustard which is about a wiener dog named Frank who uses a wheelchair and his buddy Mustard, a little yellow bird. The themes of the books are about my own personal experiences such as when I got stuck in the mud in my wheelchair. The title of the first book I wrote called “Stuck in the mud”, related to the time when I got stuck on a trail in a botanical garden in Vancouver, BC.

Differently Awesome is a book about acceptance and inclusion based on my own experiences of being excluded and treated differently because I use a wheelchair. I wanted to share how we should not treat people unkindly or differently because they are differently abled.

Wheels and Waves is about when I went surfing at Westport, Washington with a team of friends who carried me across the sand and helped me experience riding a wave on a surfboard.

My latest book, Monster Truck’n is about when I got to drive a monster truck. I have many more stories and ideas to draw from and plan on continuing to add to the book series of the Adventures of Frank and Mustard for many years to come.

In addition to being an author, I became a motivational speaker and going to schools and sharing my story about how I became paralyzed, writing my books and how to not give up on one’s dreams. I mostly speak to elementary and middle school students but I find wherever I go my message of inclusion, acceptance, and never giving up, is warmly received.

Although my dreams for Frank and Mustard have been greatly impacted by the coronavirus, Arturo and I continue to work on creating more books that represent inclusion, kindness and acceptance.

Learn more about Frank and Mustard's creators: https://www.frankandmustard.com/about-us

Head to Youtube: The Adventures of Frank and Mustard to see Simon

Website: WWW.Frankandmustard.com

Check out FrankandMustard on Facebook

To check in with Simon about doing a presentation at your school or with your organization, contact Simon directly at Frankandmustard@gmail.com

My Favorite Other-abled Character by Lynn Lovegreen

The sad thing is, I had to think hard to come up with some favorite other-abled characters. I haven’t seen many books, movies or shows with other-abled characters that don’t turn them into  object lessons for main characters or PSAs to say “look, they’re people too.” But as I gave it more thought, I realized Charles Dickens, of all people, has several other-abled characters that are three-dimensional, not just clichés.

Victorian writers weren’t often politically correct, and Dickens made his mistakes. His Tiny Tim is stereotyped as a saint who helps to bring Scrooge to his redemption, and in Bleak House, Grandfather Smallweed’s disability is almost comic relief with his “Shake me up, Judy!” episodes. But Phil Squod, also in Bleak House, is a well-rounded character, with his mobility disability simply one of his many quirks, and we admire his devotion and service to his boss.

My favorite other-abled character is Miss Jenny Wren in Our Mutual Friend. Miss Jenny Wren is a poor doll’s dressmaker, whose "back is bad and her legs are queer.” But she is the “person of the house,” and not to be trifled with. She berates her ne’er-do-well father as a “bad child” and makes him turn out his pockets so he won’t spend all their money on drink. She pokes people with her sewing pins and can win an argument with anyone. Her friendship with Lizzie allows us to see inside her good heart and wish we had a friend like her.

The ALA (American Library Association) created the Schneider Family Book Award to celebrate the children’s and young adult book of the year “that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.” Learn more and find some great books for yourself and your kids at http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/schneider-family-book-award.

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.