Monday, November 3, 2008

Mandy Sue Day by Roberta Karim, illustrated by Karen Ritz



Morning wind tickles my ear.
My eyes blink open. 
Down in the cornfield, crows caw and caw.
I sing along:
Today's the day
Yahoo hooray
Mandy Sue Day
today!

In Mandy Sue's family, each child gets a special day to choose what they do, a special meal with a special dessert included. Mandy Sue decides to spend the day riding her horse, enjoying her special dinner, and then sleeping in the hayloft in the barn. 

Besides the lovely prose, I love this book because you don't realize you are reading about a blind child until the very end. It was such a wonderful surprise the first time I read it that I reread it with the child at hand to see how Mandy Sue managed and to appreciate all that she could do independently. What a great book to help children learn more about blindness and how children with disabilities adapt!

Also a good book to celebrate fall, since this farming family celebrates the harvest season and hard work with their special individual days off.

(New York: Clarion Books, 1994)

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