From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-One of Hannah's best friends is Isabel, a mentally challenged adult who plays with her. Like Hannah, Isabel enjoys taking walks with her mom, finding old toys in the grass, coloring, and using the wading pool. She's just bigger, and since both her family and neighbors accept her as she is-even as a kind of gift-Hannah thinks that Isabel is great. It's only when an older girl points out that she is "too old" to play that Hannah has any inkling at all that her friend is different in a problematic way. However, when Isabel's birthday rolls around, everyone comes to celebrate; and Hannah's mother shows just how special her friend is. This is at once a sensitive treatment of the mentally challenged and a celebration of the real-life Isabel. Best suited for independent readers, the lengthy text flows smoothly in both English and in the informed Spanish translation. The illustrations are a bit less successful. The foreground consists of detailed pencil-and-watercolor portraits done in a realistic style. The backgrounds are rendered in a cartoon style in what appears to be pen and ink and watercolor. The two work together well on some spreads and uneasily on others, rather like a Blues Clues background dropped into a set of carefully rendered portraits. Regardless, the unsentimental tone of the text makes this a good introduction to the subject and could serve, especially in excerpted form, as a discussion starter.
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About the Author
Lee Merrill Byrd loves what happens when her grandchildren wander through the neighborhood. Her first children's book Treasure on Gold Street followed her granddaughter Hannah. Now it's Little Johnny's turn. Algonquin published her first novel in Spring 2006. Antonio Castro L. was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life. He has illustrated dozens of childrens' books including Pájaro Verde and Treasure on Gold Street.
