Customer Reviews

Jamie

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This is the true story of a young Hawaiian girl with type 2 Spinal Muscular Atrophy, told by her kindergarten through second grade teacher. It isn't really about her disablity - SMA - it's the story of Jamie's education. Jamie becomes fascinated with reading and creative writing, and teaches many of her mainstream classmates to appreciate books. In spite of her disability, she becomes a leader and mentor to her friends. Jamie dies at the age of 8 in 1994, due to recurrent bouts of pneumonia after spinal surgery.

This book is not particularly accurate from a medical point of view (e.g. "Jamie hd spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy," page 3) but it might be a very useful resource to have available for your young child's teacher. Since Jamie is physically weak and academically strong, reading this story may give a teacher some idea of what to expect of a child with SMA. There are also many excerpts from Jamie's writings included which clearly communicate her feelings and thoughts. (I am the parent of a child with the same disease.)

Jamie, a plucky kindergartener with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) is clearly the teacher in her kindergarten class. Bright and beautiful, this little girl knows how to compute math problems and can read. She imparts her academic knowledge to her classmates and they, in turn, share some of the more usual aspects of kindergarten life with Jamie. Physically unable to compete, she encourages her peers to join her in more cerebral activities.

This is a lovely story of how a little child shall lead. This delightful little girl captivates the reader from the start. She is so adorable, so verbally precocious and so interesting that one loves her immediately. Her death at age 8 in 1994 was a major loss. Although most reviewers/readers did not know Jamie personally, her death was truly a painful loss.