Ian's Walk was a great book for children, especially with children that may have autism or a loved one with autism. At the beginning of the book, Ian's sister wants to go for a walk with her friends. Her brother wants to go, so her mom warns her to be careful since he's going with them. At first, everything he's doing is different from what they're doing. His reactions to things are different, from theirs. She doesn't get mad, but she gets a little irritated with some of the things he does. While her and her friend are playing by the river, he has his head against a stone on the floor for fun. After a while, they want to get pizza. Since he doesn't want to get pizza, his sister leaves to get the food. While she's gone, he wonders off. They freak out. So she closes her eyes and thinks about the different things he does and since she knows him too well, she knows where to find him. At the end, they find each other and it changes her perspective. Now she does the different things he likes to do with him.
It is a great story for children to discuss. It shows that you can put the person's differences aside and have fun together. When she almost realized her brother was gone, she started to take him serious and precious their time together. I definitely recommend this book for children, especially like I said for kids with autism or are close to autist
This would be a great book to read to a class. There are a growing number of children effected by autism and this book might help some children understand autism more. My friend has a daughter that has autism. He just recently had to got to her school to deal with a bully problem there. I think any book that can help curb the bullying problem is a good book. Thanks for the post Makayla.
ReplyDeleteI think this book would be great to introduce the topic of autism if it were a topic you would want to talk about. But like you said, it can also represent the differences between people and how you can relate or change based on events which occur. It's common for sisters to be irritated with brothers but I like how she eventually felt a responsibility to him when she finally realized the severity of the situation. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteMakayla, Diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder are becoming so common that I would be surprised to find a school that did not have a student or two who was on the spectrum. That being said, raising awareness in schools is key. I am sure that I will return to this book as a resource for my own classes. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing, you're right, children need to learn about this and become more familiar with it.
ReplyDeleteWhen you read this book aloud, I just kept thinking about how I wish my teachers would have taught my more about students with special needs. Children of all ages should learn about this, especially if they have a classmate experiencing this.
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