Laurie Lears

You know how you read The Cat in the Hat and you thought, that's fun, but why were these small children left at home all alone? That's how I feel about this picture book. Why did the two young girls have to take their younger brother Ian who is autistic to the park all by themselves? Of course, he gets lost and it's really scary. The sisters ask a couple adults if they've seen a little boy and the adults are totally unhelpful. ("No, perhaps he's watching the baseball game.") These grown-ups are so uncaring! Don't you think if you met two frantic girls looking for a lost little boy that you might want to assist them instead of carrying on with your life in this blase fashion? The basic message I got from this book is that if you have an autistic sibling your life is really stressful and you have too many responsibilities for a kid your age and no grown-ups will help you. Which I don't think is necessarily the case at all and is a big downer. So I wish this book had been a little more positive.

On the plus side, the illustrations are beautiful and look true-to-life. And the book also explains in simple terms that a little kid can understand some sensory and communication issues that an autistic person might have.… (meer)

Megan is part of an open adoption. She keeps in touch with her birth mother Kendra. There is a tree that is decorated annually for Megan’s birthday. It worries Megan when Kendra gets engaged and plans on moving that she won’t have the tradition of the birthday tree. Megan tries propagating a new tree for Kendra. Sadly, the tree doesn’t survive. Then, Megan has another idea to try digging up a tree. That doesn’t work either. When Kendra comes to visit she tells Megan she will never forget about her and doesn’t’ need a tree. Surprisingly, Kendra dug up the birthday tree so she can continue the tradition at her new house. I’d use this book in my class to talk about adoption, its different forms and to explain how families can be different.… (meer)