When I Grow Up I Want to be a Chair

A young wheelchair user called Vo decides that when she grows up she wants to be a chair. In this brightly illustrated picture book, she goes on to explain all the reasons why she has made this very unusual choice. Chairs are soft and they give you freedom which you don’t often have when your body refuses to cooperate.

While, as a wheelchair user, the message that a wheelchair gives you freedom has veracity and should be applauded, the delivery of Harbuck’s message is more than a little confusing. Why should we encourage readers to want to give up their humanity to become an inanimate object?

This book risks feeling like a vehicle for promoting therapeutic messages. In the process, it loses narrative interest. As much as I wanted to like this book because of its attempt at positive messaging, the delivery fell flat.