EducatingParents.org rating: Approved

85

I thought this was an adorable little story. When the teacher announces that there's going to be a new student in class tomorrow the whole class gets excited. Then she asks them all to try very hard to make him feel welcome... because he's in a wheelchair. Ordinarily (before I received the list of books with things to avoid and things books to include) I would have thought this was a really great (albeit idealistically naive) story about acceptance of new kids who are different but not so different after all. That being said, I think this was actually a great way to handle this subject. The kids were curious but not rude when they asked the new critter, Alex, questions about his wheelchair. Alex happily answered all of them and "didn't seem to mind". The kids proceeded to learn that Alex was perfectly capable of doing most things by himself and he wasn't afraid or ashamed to ask for help. Alex helped out others just as much as they helped him. Everyone needs a little help sometimes after all. I'm still unsure about using 'special' when discussing people with disabilities but it was in no way offensive in this text. ( )

There is a new student in school and his name is Alex, but what makes Alex different is that he uses a wheel chair to get around. Alex came into school and looked nervous, all the kids introduced then introduced themselves to Alex. When it came to go outside, all the students thought that Alex would need help, but they realized he didn't much help at all, only doing some things, but not everything. The message that is demonstrated in this story is that you should accept and respect everyone no matter their differences or what they look like. This is an outstanding book to read to students so they can be aware that not everyone acts and looks the same, and that disabilities do not define a person. ( )

this book talks about a friend of brother critters that is in a wheel chair and how he needs some help sometimes and he might need some other things that people don't
1 book