Customer Reviews

Russ and the Firehouse (Day with Russ)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm such a fan of books from Woodbine House! My kids love this series of books about a boy named Russ, especially RUSS AND THE FIREHOUSE. I think it's wonderful that Russ has Down sydnrome and the book doesn't even mention it. It just shows Russ as a regular kid, doing regular kid stuff. Any child who likes fire engines will love this tour of a real firehouse. We have the first book in the series, RUSS AND THE APPLE TREE SURPIRSE, and we hear that there is a new one coming out soon. Looking forward to it!

This is a terrific book about a little boy with DS who visits his uncle's firehouse in Chicago. The story is simple and clear. The photos are lovely. The actual story never mentions Russ' DS which I think is just the way it should be. He's just a little boy visiting a fire house, however, kids with DS will be excited to just see him in the photos and other kids will benefit from what I can only describe as his "normalcy". I purchased this book initially because my own son, who is almost 3, has DS. He really loves this book and it has become one of our regular story books. Which puts it in the ranks of classics like Brown Bear, and Goodnight Moon at our house. Russ is just a little boy who gets to help out around fire engines one day. What kid wouldn't want to do that!

As an educator, I absolutely adore the inclusiveness portrayed in this book. So many books today which include characters with a disability, spend so much time trying to teach about a specific disability, or trying to impart a message of acceptance, that they forget the storyline. This certainly can't be said about Russ' books. If it weren't for the pictures, we wouldn't even know that Russ has Down syndrome and that's exactly how I like it- disability naturally.

I really liked this book, we were looking for books that included children with Down Syndrome, but did not ever actually say they had it. It was also great because Russ was doing something that all kids like to do, and overall I think it was a good message

Our neighbor across the street has a little girl with downs syndrome and my daugther who is 4 has started to notice that she is different from her. I wanted to get her a book that showed someone with downs syndrome doing real things so that I could use it as an example. Unfortuntately the pictures are so far away that you don't really get to see Russ. It would have been better if there were some closer photographs.