By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
July is Disability Pride Month, and Burlington-based disability writer and advocate Dorothy Ellen Palmer and Groundwood Books have finalized a second children’s book collaboration. This forthcoming publication features a young protagonist with a mobility scooter who fights for her right to access public spaces independently. Melanie and the Wheelie Friends Save the Day is a sequel to Palmer’s previous tale, The Scooter Twins, and its message is loud and clear: full accessibility in all communities is not yet normalized, and urgently needs to be.
Melanie is excited. A brand-new bakery is opening up in her neighbourhood, and she has a big sweet tooth. She especially wants to purchase a cookie, her all-time favourite treat. She, her grandma, and her twin brother Melvin (who also uses a scooter) are the first in line on the store’s opening day. But there’s a big problem. The bakery has no ramp. Melanie and her brother can’t get in.
Well-meaning, able-bodied adults also visiting the new bakery offer to lift Melanie into the building over the front step that’s blocking her. Melanie has to explain that this could result in someone getting injured, as her scooter is very heavy and she could fall off. Other adults are sympathetic but unhelpful. Melanie is not their child, and therefore not really their concern.
Someone said, “It’s a shame the little girl can’t get in.”
The crowd nodded. But they all went in without her just the same.
The bakery owner insists that he cannot afford a regulated ramp, but Melanie does not accept that answer. She gets straight down to business and organizes a group of friends who use mobility devices to raise money to get the bakery the new ramp it needs. They don’t want groups of strangers carrying them inside like parcels. They don’t want someone else going in and choosing a baked good for them. They campaign because they know they deserve to be able to safely enter the building themselves and choose their own cookies.
Melanie and the Wheelie Friends Save the Day is a story about the social impact of self-advocacy in a world that is often not accommodating due to inconvenience, ignorance, or misunderstanding. Melanie is a confident, mature, and admirable main character. She is assertive and does not shy away from telling the adults in her life what she needs in order to be able to move around. She does not accept dangerous or second-rate solutions. At one point, the bakery owner offers to wheel her into his establishment through the dirty back alley, using the flimsy wooden ramp he built for garbage cans. Melanie outright says no.
“No can do, Mr. B. I’m a girl, not garbage.”
Illustrator Maria Sweeney, a U.S.-based comic artist, uses warm, earthy, and rich colours to tell Palmer’s story. The characters are adorned in deep purples and reds, vibrant yellows, and rich greens. The pages are visually appealing and inviting. And the representation is excellent. Melanie is joined in her fundraising enterprise by a diverse and inclusive cast of buddies who reflect the wide range of children who live with disabilities. Sweeney also takes care to properly illustrate the wide range of mobility devices that people with disabilities use. There is much more than one type of wheelchair or scooter.
Melanie and the Wheelie Friends Save the Day will be available for purchase on October 6, 2026. In the meantime, during July’s Disability Pride Month, the people of Burlington can show their support to local organizations, such as Community Living Burlington, AbleLiving — Thrive Group, and the Centre for Diverse Learners.
