"Andy and His Yellow Frisbee"

“Andy and His Yellow Frisbee” tells the story of Andy, Sarah and Rosie. Sarah is new to a school where Rosie and her younger brother Andy attend. In the book, Andy has autism, which causes him to desire isolation during his recess time. He enjoys spinning his yellow Frisbee and watches it go around and around. Rosie tends to keep a watchful eye over her younger brother. When Sarah notices Andy, she attempts to make friends by bringing her own pink Frisbee. This allows Sarah to meet Rosie and the girls get to know each other. This book is a wonderful choice to introduce children to autism. The story explains autism in a way that is easy to understand for the target age audience. Mary Thompson explains in the book how Andy can sometimes feel as though he is in a different world. Putting autism in simple terms such as these will allow young readers to imagine what it is like for those with the disability resulting in them being more accepting. The drawings are wonderful and one of the reasons I was attracted to this book. They are colorful and fun for children. The book tells a plausible tale in a charismatic way. The author is able to write about Andy without belittling him or causing the reader to feel bad for him in any way. Mary Thompson is an insider with a disabled child of her own. This allows her to give good insight into true feelings a sister or caretaker would have when dealing in a similar situation. “Andy and His Yellow Frisbee” is a good choice to introduce young readers to autism, and I would definitely include it in a diverse library collection.

"Ian's Walk"

“Ian’s Walk” by Laurie Lears is a heartwarming tale of sisters and their younger brother with autism. It is a simple story but tells a lot about not only autism but relationships between brothers and sisters. Ian and his older sisters, Tara and Julie, go into town to feed the ducks in the park. Throughout their trip in town, Laurie Lears paints a realistic portrait of what it is like for a child with autism. When the sisters reach the park, they realize that Ian has wandered off. It is then that we see true panic from the girls as they fear they have lost him. Eventually Tara finds Ian under the big bell in the park but this particular situation is a wonderful instance to show true emotions for those who care for those with a disability. One reason I really recommend this book is because of the range of emotions the characters go through. When they are leaving the house, Tara does not necessarily want Ian to come along. She shows frustration and embarrassment when Ian sniffs the brick wall or eats cereal rather than pizza. Tara then shows panic when she loses him and relief, love and acceptance after locating her younger brother. This book also presents realistic brother and sister relationships throughout the story. Even though Ian has autism, Tara gets upset with him just as any sister would with her younger brother. Despite his challenges and what she sees as some embarrassing behavior, she still loves him no matter what. This shows in her desperate attempt to find her brother. The pictures in this story are amazing and add to the dialogue. They are realistic just as the plot and draw the reader in. The way Laurie Lears describes Ian’s world is completely understandable for young readers as well. It will help the young readers relate their thoughts with Ian’s allowing them to better understand autism. I would recommend this book to anyone and will include it in my own diverse library for my classroom.

"Rules"

This award winning read is about a young girl named Catherine and her relationships between her younger brother, David, who has autism, the new neighbor girl Kristi and a mute paraplegic boy named Jason. The reader sees into Catherine and David’s relationship through the rules she writes for him which happen to be the titles of each chapter. Catherine also feels jealous of her brother though who tends to get more of his parents attention. Catherine at times despises her brother as he complicates her efforts as she tries to build a friendship with Kristi. Christine life becomes more complicated but enriched as she also builds an unlikely friendship with Jason. This book would be a wonderful addition to a diverse library because of the realistic approach to introducing autism. This book is different because it focuses more on Catherine’s life rather than David’s life. It allows the reader to see David from a different point of view. The portrayal of David that Cynthia Lord writes is one of the reasons this book is so highly recommended. “Rules” has won many awards including the Newbery Award and the Schenieder Family Book Award, an award created especially to award those books that deal with disabilities. Written by a mother of an autistic child, this story is authentic. As Catherine helps Jason communicate better by using her art skills to create better cards for him to tap on, the reader watches Catherine grow. By the end of the book, we have seen Catherine grow with acceptance, understanding and love. I not only recommend this book but will include it in my diverse library.

What I Found and Similarities Between Them

When finding books dealing with autism for children, I found more challenges and struggles than I ever imagined I would come across. I found multiple recommendations from trustworthy sources, but when I tried to find the books, it became a challenge. The local library carried only one title and bookstores where either hit or miss with many of them. After hours of researching books and tracking them down, I was left with three books that I would include in my own diverse library for autism. These books are “Ian’s Walk” by Laurie Lears, “Andy and His Yellow Frisbee” by Mary Thompson and “Rules” by Cynthia Lord. I preferred these books over others for many reasons but I found similarities between the three of them.
The first similarity that is most obvious is the fact that all three stories are told from an older sisters point of view. All of the sisters have a younger brother with autism. This ends up being a positive factor in all of the stories because it shows that even though the child has a disability, they still have a normal brother and sister relationship. At times they get frustrated and mad at each other but no matter what, the sisters always figure out that they will always love their brother. It shows how some children deal with extra challenges but despite the extra work, they still care greatly for their sibling. I did think it was interesting that all of the autistic characters were boys. This is a great way to show readers that even if someone may appear to be different they are more likely just as “normal” as them.
The other similarity throughout all three books was the simplicity of explaining autism for the readers. This was one of the factors I based my choices on. I believe that if this book is to be included in a diverse library, it should have a purpose. For autism, that purpose is to explain the disability in a charismatic way that is easy for children to understand. In “Ian’s Walk” Laurie Lears explains how we may see something one way or hear something one way but Ian sees or hears things differently. She gives simple examples of this which is great for young readers. In “Rules” the narrator explains throughout the story how David’s brain works. She explains how thinking this way causes him to act differently and gives good examples of him acting out. In “Andy and His Yellow Frisbee” Mary Thompson explains tantrums in a way that is easy for other children to understand. She simply shows how it sometimes seems as though Andy is in his own world and he himself gets frustrated he cannot leave it. Mary Thompson was careful in explaining this though as to not cause pity for Andy, but rather explained it in a compassionate voice.
When choosing the final three books, I was careful to pick books that did not pity or feel bad for the character with autism in any point. In all three books the character is shown to be similar to others and loved just as much. Never in any of the books does the author belittle the character, but rather more likely empowers them. In all three books, the story offers lessons of acceptance.
These books may have been better choices over others also for their authenticity of the characters. Each book was written by an insider. All three were written by mothers of children with disabilities. I believe that because of this, the authors could convey a very realistic story. All of these situations are plausible and all of the characters have realistic emotions and reactions. I feel that the realism of each story and situation work for the better in each book. Children can relate better to their own lives and began to learn about acceptance.

A Scholarly Look

While researching and learning more about autism in literature for children, I read “Characterization of Mental Retardation and Autism in Children’s Books”. This article was researched and written by Tina Taylor Dyches for Brigham Young University, Mary Anne Prater for University of Hawaii at Manoa and Sharon F. Cramer for Buffalo State College. In order to study disabilities in this type of literature, they looked at twelve different books. About 25% covered autism and the other 75% covered some other kind of disability, most commonly Down syndrome. Throughout their study, they found many common themes. The most bothersome for them was the fact that they were all boys.
They found that out of the 14 mentally handicapped characters depicted, all were male except for one female with Down syndrome. Every one of the boys was a young Caucasian. They also noticed a theme of caretaker or protector in many of these side characters as well. As in “Ian’s Walk” the researchers see a lot of embarrassment from this protector. The point of view was also usually told from this persons point of view rather than the character with the disability. It was realized that in almost all of the books with an autistic character, the development of the other character grew. It was as if they used the autistic character to develop their own self. It was also shown that many of the characters never make a willful contribution. Instead, the character just follows another, commonly their caretaker. Although it was not the majority, in more than a couple of the books reviewed, the side character is embarrassed to be seen with someone who has autism. From this we usually see improved feelings. The researchers saw this in many of the books considered.
After looking back at their research, the scholars noticed many different themes. They agree that even although the number of picture books with disabled characters has grown, they would like to see more. In these new ones there is room for improvement. They would like to see a reemergence of the disabled character helping the other character who is not disabled. They would like to continue to see the characters as an integrated and resourceful part of the community. They all agree that it is challenging but would love to see them include all the positive elements possible in the next stories they will be reviewing.

Just some final thoughts...

As I'm sitting here the night before our last class, I have come to thinking how much I've gotten out of this class. I was browsing through all the readings that we have gone over throughout the semester and I realized how many different groups we've focused on. Because of this class, I would feel more comfortable picking out a multi-cultural library for my elementary class. I am just now realizing how many different groups of people we should recognize when talking about diverse literature. Before this class, I would have only based my thinking on ethnicity or race. I would not have necessarily thought of including literature about disabled or homosexual groups. I feel that it is now the time that we should be exposing students to these groups as well as latino/a, asian american, african american, native american, etc. This class has given me confidence in not only chosing what groups to bring to the forefront but also which books would be good to include. Studying the different awards has provided me with positive resources for well written and legitimate books. Also, after many weeks of debate and discussion, I feel that I would prefer not only books written by insiders, but ones written by those with right intentions. From this class I have learned to look for those intentions and to be critical of authors. It has definitely prepared me for a tough world in which we will all be teaching our future.

Sometimes it's frustrating...

After much reading and careful research, I found five books that I thought would be good choices for my final project. I might want to mention that I have decided to do this project on autism. When I was home in Brighton for the holiday weekend, I decided to check out these books from my local library. I was stunned when I was unable to find all but one. When I talked with the librarian, she informed me that this particular book was the only one they carried on my list. I could not believe that with the public becoming more aware of autism that this large library would only supply one book for children on the subject. In fact, I had one book by a well known author of literature for children dealing with disabilities, Laurie Lears, and they did not have even one of her many books. This one experience changed my entire views of diverse literature for children. Now more than ever, I am a strong advocate for incorporating this type of literature in the classroom. If the local libraries won't even carry books of this nature, then it should be our job as teachers to expose the students to other cultures.