My Friend Has Down Syndrome

by Amanda Doering Tourville, Kristin Caraan Sorra (Illustrator)

My friend Sarah has a disability called Down Syndrome. But that doesnt matter to us. We tell jokes and laugh, go to ballet class together, and have a lot of fun. Im glad Sarah is my friend!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Friendship, Nonfiction, Disability

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Amanda Doering Tourville is the author of books for children. Amanda lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. She loves animals and would have an entire zoo if she could.
Also writes as Amanda F. Doering

Reviews

[Ashley Dailey]

I really love this book. The girls have a very cute friendship, and it has a lot of interesting facts about Down Syndrome. Children will definitely be interested in hearing or reading this story. They will also walk away with an understanding of Down Syndrome.

[Annie]

I like how the book explains about this syndrome and tells people how they are the same and different than the rest of us. It talks about the different symptoms they have and how they look different. And how they can make a great friend.

[Jasmine Na]

The author, Amanda Doering Tourville, does a great job of introducing down syndrome through this story. It is about two girls, Carmen and Sarah. Carmen shares her life as Sarah's friend. They have fun times together at playing dress-up and in dance class. As her friend, Carmen shares about Sarah's life and how she has to go to the doctor's office often, how other kids make fun of her sometime, and how Sarah needs extra help learning in school. The story does a great job of explaining down syndrome. As well as her other books, Tourville also includes "did you know" bubbles with facts that can explain certain parts of the story. The illustrations as well are great and although the story says that Sarah may look different than other students, the drawings do not show a big difference, which I like.
This book is a good introduction and informational story that can teach younger students about down syndrome.

[Ame]

Eh.

I feel like this book would've benefited as a regular story of friendship without all the "Did You Know?" facts. For example, the glossary defines "condition" as "illness" and Down Syndrome is not an illness. The book doesn't bother to cover what Down Syndrome *is*, but rather goofy things like "people with Down Syndrome tend to be short". I feel like being short is nothing monumental and it's certainly not a great indicator about whether someone has Down Syndrome. In addition, the protagonist notes that her friend with DS has a laugh that sounds like a honking goose. In any other kid book of friendship, this might be an endearing thing, but it mostly just sounds like a reason to poke fun.

[Marissa Estrada]

This book is based on friendship sand being different. It talks about the differences and silimarities that children have in school. The author made this book in a way where that children fall into what she calls groups. I suppose this could relate to how different children are. I like this book, because regardless what the child has or appearance they are all the same in some way. However, this book is lengthy and for small children they could get impatient waiting for the ending. I would read this to a first or second grader. The illustrations are also simple and colorful. Joyful. I like how the author wrote the book and describe characteristic of children with disabilities. This book definitely teaches awareness.

[Michelle Matash]

This book gives a discription of Carmens friend Sarah, who has down syndrome. She explains that although they may be the same age, but on different reading and math levels, they are the same. And that everyone is different so it doesn't matter. She and Sarah cheer each other up and are both in the same dance class. The author put notes at the bottom of the page to inform the reader facts about people who have Down Syndrome. This can be useful to explain to children it is a condition a child is born with and it doesn't matter their race, or socioeconomic status. At the end of the book there is also a clear description of the disability and characteristics that go along with it. There is a glossary for unfamiliar words a student may not understand when reading the text.

[Carley Eiken]

I really enjoyed this children's book. It has to be one of my favorite ones about a child with a disability. The little girl in the story has Down syndrome and it is told from her best friends point of view. I loved how the book talked about how Sarah may look different from the other kids at school, but that everyone else looks different from each other as well. We are all unique and this book did a great job of portraying that message. I also liked how the book put a fact about Down syndrome on some of the pages. That was a really neat and the book did a great job of displaying a positive attitude and story.

[Molly]

The intent was clearly good, but I honestly thought the book was a little condescending towards people with DS. The pop-up facts aren't connected to anything in the story and some of the definitions in the glossary are flat-out wrong ("condition" =/= "illness").

Fine to introduce kids to the fact that people with DS exist and they're normal kids like everyone else, but I'm hoping there are better books out there on the subject.

Also the art is like something out of a fever nightmare. But that's just an opinion.

[Aartjan ter Haar]

Carmen en Sara zitten op dezelfde school en gaan beiden naar ballet. Ze zijn vrienden, maar in het prentenboek beleven ze eigenlijk niets. Het is vooral Carmen die over Sara vertelt. Daarnaast wordt in tekstblokjes beknopte informatie over het downsyndroom gegeven. Sara heeft het downsyndroom. Over Carmen kom je verder niet zoveel te weten.

Beeldvorming. 1) De serie-naam ‘Bijzondere vrienden’ maakt de boodschap duidelijk: Carmen is gewoon en Sara is bijzonder en dus is er uitleg nodig; 2) In het boekje wordt de beladen term ‘downie’ gebruikt voor mensen met het downsyndroom.

[Diana]

Sweet, informative story about Down Syndrome. Lots of little factoids perfect for young readers. While not a perfect book, I did enjoy it. For those of us facing the very real possibility of having kiddos with this condition, it's encouraging to focus on all the things folks born with this condition CAN do and be.

[LaDonna Harris]

This will help to explain Down's to the little kids.

[Jessica]

I like the books in this series because they teach kids how to be compassionate with children who are different from them. This book even taught me information. I didn't know about down syndrome.

[Katie Plumley]

This fictional narrative is a story about two little girls with disabilities. One child has Down's Syndrome and wears glasses, and the other child has a vision impairment and wears glasses also. The two girls become pals because they are the only ones in their class with glasses, and they quickly become best friends through their shared interests, especially ballet.

This book has very pretty pictures and gives many facts about Down's Syndrome. It would be useful in the classroom for a lesson in diversity. It gives a positive example of two very different girls becoming fast friends because they have more in common than they realize.

[Zulaika Hernandez]

I just discovered these books and find me to be great! My five year old could understand the goal of the story - understanding everyone is different basically. In Spanish and English so it was fun to practice both languages. Would definitely recommend. Sometimes our little ones are curious about things or people they may have seen and educating them on being respectful and what is and isn't polite to say to others is important.

[Hunter Woodley]

This is a great lets talk about it book. Children are often puzzled and curious when they meet or see someone who is different than what they are used to. This book is a great way for a child to understand what down syndrome is in a sensitive way! It is a very heart warming story and great for any child.

[ReadingWench]

A good informative book about Carmen who has a friend, Sarah, with Down Syndrome. This book would be great for a child who is about to meet someone with Down's/

AR 2.9

[Caleb Moes]

I choose this book because I needed a multicultural/diversity book. This is a great eye opener. It is about a young girl and her friend who has down syndrome. I enjoyed reading this book and it opened up my eyes and even gave me some new information about children with down syndrome