Katerine Sen Sen itibaren Budinščina, Hırvatistan
I think this book is a wonderful text, both in terms of introducing children and families to the basics of Down Syndrome as well as, separate from it's content, an excellent picture book. The pictures are brightly colored, centered on the page, and aid student understanding of the characters and plot progression. In particular, the illustrations do a nice job of subtly representing the differences in facial characteristics of children with Down Syndrome. As the story points out, children with Down's Syndrome resemble their siblings, can do most things other kids can do with a little time and patience, and are a welcome addition to any family after the possible initial shock of diagnosis. It would serve as an ideal read aloud for a pre-school or kindergarten classroom discussing new siblings, ability, Down Syndrome or families. There is a question and answer section at the end of the story with questions which were submitted by parents of children with Down Syndrome, which were asked by their children when they found out they had a sibling with Down Syndrome. This is useful for children, parents and teachers. Overall, I felt that this was a developmentally appropriate picture book to address one variation on ability, an issue which is often overlooked in mainstream children's publishing.