Ely, Lesley. Looking After Louis. Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company, 2004.
This book was considered for the Dolly Gray Award for Children's Literature in Developmental Disabilities. This book is about a boy with autism, Louis, who is a new student in a regular classroom (inclusion). The children begin to understand Louis and include him in their activities. Once Louis shows making a connection with one of the students, the teacher allows Louis and him to go outside and play soccer, telling students that it's okay to make exceptions sometimes.
I liked that this book brought the message about acceptance and how it's okay to be different, yet no where in the book did it mention that Louis was autistic, until you read the end note in the back of the book. The note at the end described how mainstreaming children with disabilities into a classroom is "tailored to their needs" (Skidmore). Louis also had an individual aide, which many children with disabilities have when mainstreaming into a regular classroom and helping them be a part of the class. This can help children understand why others sometimes have aides.
Although it's a good message for children to understand acceptance and that it's okay to be different, it would have been better if they specifically mentioned that Louis had autism or a disability. Also, at the end of the book a student said to the teacher, "I think we're allowed to break rules for special people" and the teacher nodded when she allowed Louis to play soccer outside with another student when it wasn't recess (Ely). This statement could be misleading and make it seem as if all children with disabilities are special and need rules to be broken for them to fit in.
Overall, I think it was a good book with an important message, and had appropriate and creative illustrations, by Polly Dunbar. I liked how she made Louis look like every other child because children with autism don't look any different to any other child. It would be a good book to read in a classroom because it allows students to see the importance of acceptance and that they may have other classmates in their classes one day who may have disabilities. Coming from a child's perspective, it also can help students who read this relate to it. Yet, when including it in the classroom, one has to look at how they are going to address what autism is and how some children may act, only because it doesn't specifically explain autism, but that Louis was "different."
1 comment:
I have not read this book and am basing this on what I read from your review. Overall I think it's a great idea to have books about kids with disabilities, especially autism since it is growing. Although this book has good qualities: Louis can do the same activities, he has an aide, and he is in an inclusive classroom, I do not think this book sounds that great. First it shows him looking the same as other children, sometimes people with autism look different, so is it right to only show him looking like everyone else? Also I really did not like that they allowed him to play outside when it was not recess. Yes it is great he was getting along with others and becoming social but he and the other student are then going to miss out on a lesson and they are going to teach the other students that because Louis is different he gets to be treated different. This is the opposite message the we try to teach children. Yes we want to make exceptions, but I think exceptions are that he has an aide or that he needs extra help, not that he is allowed to play soccer during class. I am not sure that I would use this book in my classroom because the overall message is not what I have in mind.
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