Review-My Friend Isabelle

Woloson, Eliza. My Friend Isabelle. MD; Woodbine House, 2003.

My Friend Isabelle by Eliza Woloson shows a very positive representation of children with Down syndrome. Woloson wrote this book based on her own daughter, making her an insider author. The book is told from the perspective of Charlie who explains the similarities and differences between his friend Isabelle and himself. Isabelle is the same age as Charlie and also has Down syndrome. The writing in the story is not negative by any means, even when talking about the differences in the two children. The author does this by writing “Isabelle takes her time” and “Isabelle’s words are sometimes hard for me to understand” (Woloson 8, 10). What improves the book's strength is that Charlie also points out all the similarities he has to Isabelle as well. They both cry when they don't share, eat snacks together, and carry around toys. Through these descriptions of the two, the reader can see that even though Isabelle has a disability, she can still do all of the same activities as her friend.

My Friend Isabelle would be a great addition to any elementary classroom. Children can pick this up and see that Charlie and Isabelle are different just like they are different from their friends as well. The physical layout of the text on each page correlates with the content in the story which can make the book more appealing to young children who read it. The words swoop down the page when Charlie talks about playing on the slide and twirl around the page when he talks about dancing. It is through books like this and friends like Charlie and Isabelle that are “doing their small part to make the world a more tolerant place” (Woloson 27).