Customer Reviews

What's Wrong with Timmy?

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I just read What's Wrong with Timmy? It was a pleasure to read, especially having my own son, Craig, 13 years old, who has Down syndrome. It really hit home with me how other children sometimes view Craig. I am recommending that our school district order copies so teachers can read with their students. It was a very positive story focusing on the strengths of children with special needs and how much alike we all are. Kudos to Ms. Shriver for a touching book that I hope gets widely read and helps to de-stigmatize our children! This is a very hopeful book that should be read by every elementary and middle school student, and discussed in class with their teachers...

I was very curious to read this title from Maria Shriver knowing her family background with people with special needs.

My brother has Down's Syndrome, so I know what it is to be on the receiving end of other children looking at my brother and wondering (sometimes outloud and sometimes in facial expression, stares and body language) wondering "What's wrong with him?" Recently one little girl asked my daughter, "Why is your uncle so freaky?"

These are truths: that people "in the world" don't always use politically correct terms... not by a long shot... and as fellow citizens we can educate those who have not yet learned some of the simple truths this book teaches.

One warning (to those who do not share this view) the book takes a very spiritual stance in its explanations.

Another shortcoming is overcome very simply. Each page has quite a bit of text and I thought, "This is way too much on a page to teach the very littlest children who really need the lessons the most" and then I saw the bolded, larger words on each page could be the only words read. Those words would be enough for the littlest ones to understand the message of the book.

It would be tough to write a perfect book on this subject that pleases everyone.

This book makes a sincere effort and will be helpful for many who read it.

I am sure Ms. Shriver has the goal of helping to making life easier on kids with disabilities, but she glosses over a really complex set of circumstances.

This book highlights the fact that others stare at the handicapped. A "normal" little girl is attempting to find out why Timmy looks and acts differently. Her mother attempts to explain carefully the similarities she shares with Timmy instead of the differences. The mother shares a story from her own childhood in which she was uncomfortable the first time she actually met a child in a wheelchair.

The little girl has difficulty understanding what "disabled" means and her mother tries to make it as simple as possible, yet complete. The mother decided the best way to explain was for the girl to actually meet and talk with Timmy. Kate is surprised to hear Timmy say his feelings are hurt when people call him "retarded" because she never thought of that before. Kate decides to invite Timmy to play ball with her and her other friends. The other children stare at Timmy at first, but one by one they all accept him with his disability and the game is started - (this part of the book was a little too fairy tale and certainly not realistic, unfortunately).

It was encouraging to me the reader, when Katie's Mom tried to explain that God makes lots of different kinds of people and that friendship with others less "able" can be a very positive experience.

The end of the book has the little girl deciding that there is nothing at all wrong with Timmy.

Being the parent of a mentally retarded daughter, I felt this book was a nice attempt at a very complex subject. However, real life just does NOT deal out many pleasant experiences to most of our handicapped children. Unfortunately, it is a long, hard uphill battle for them to become even marginally accepted. Rarely does a "normal" child so quickly end up with the perception that there is "nothing, - nothing at all" wrong with "Timmy."

I liked this book. Maria Shriver did a good job in making a little boy with Down Syndrome come to life, and it is a book that is certainly worth reading with your child aged 4-10. Still, there were things that I would do differently. For openers, many books like this tend to over-idealize the disabled person who is the main character. Timmy is no exception. Yes, there are many children with Down Syndrome who can play basketball and have the vocabulary that Timmy has. But there are also many children (including my own non-verbal son) who do not. I thought that Ms. Shriver could have at least mentioned that there are people with more severe cognitive/speech disabilities even if Timmy is not one of them. I DID appreciate the fact that she noted that "there were tears when Timmy was born." But at the end she decides that there is nothing wrong with Timmy afterall, and that was a little too corny for my taste. Also, in one part of the book she talks about how kids at school tease Timmy and call him "stupid" or "retard." Perhaps I am being naive, but many schools have moved way beyond treating disabled students like this. I would like to invite Ms. Shriver to my child's own elementary school, where the kids with disabilities are mainstreamed into regular recess and lunch and sometimes other subjects. The non-disabled kids actually FIGHT over who will "get to be" the disabled student's "buddy" that day. And when the boys are playing football with one 10 year old boy with Down syndrome, they are incredibly protective of him and seem to really enjoy the "joy" he gets from being out there with them. The book also squeezes in a child who is physically disabled (she is in a wheelchair) but has no cognitive disabilities. The book was a bit wordy (like this review!) and could have been edited down a bit more. Despite my criticisms, I did think this was a good book and worth reading. I'm glad it was written by Maria Shriver as the Shriver/Kennedy family have been such wonderful advocates for the mentally disabled. I bought a copy, read it with my 9 year old daughter, and then donated it to her school library.

As a writer who gets around in a wheelchair and conducts disability-awareness workshops for school children, I've been a longtime collector of books that acquaint kids with people who have disabilities. This book is among the most disappointing I've ever seen. Here's why:

1. The book centers on a mother-daughter dialogue (actually, more of a mother monologue) *about* a kid who has Down Syndrome. How easy it would have been to transform the manuscript into a dialogue *with* a kid who has Down Syndrome!

2. The choice to change the font to big and bold whenever a disability-related word is introduced is counterproductive. Take a sentence like "And then I saw that she was in a WHEELCHAIR." [This may not be Ms. Shriver's exact wording, but it's close.] The large, dark letters send a danger signal to readers young and old: "Whoa! Being in a wheelchair is cause for alarm, fear, panic." This is the very opposite of what disability rights activists have been striving to convey in books, film and television for decades.

Ms. Shriver is to be commended for her work on behalf of people with disabilities. Although well intentioned, this book does not further the cause she champions.

This book is a real nightmare for children with disabilities. Maria Shriver does attempt to impart the message that nothing is wrong at all- unfortunately, she's already planted the seed in the young minds of her readers with the mere title of the book. She then spends an exhaustive twenty pages trying to be sure she'd convinced them of it. I'd recommend "Russ and the Almost Perfect Day" by Janet Elizabeth Rickert instead.

Maria Shriver's attempt to assist children deal with their uncomfortability with someone with Down Syndrome or a wheelchair is a fair attempt. I have a child with Down's. I thought more of Timmy's strengths could be featured, for example, the high emotional and social intelligence, perseverence, courage, tolerance and forgiveness. It could focus on the child's abilities. Nevertheless, this is a much needed book. I did like the way Shriver made the key thoughts in large print for the younger readers. This book seemed too wordy for very young children. I'm thinking it would appeal to 5th and 6th graders. Preschool and kindergarten would be great times to introduce this theme--before biases and fears set in.
The book is excellent for a child who has someone different in their life. It is a marvelous book for assisting children in understanding and dealing with their uncomfortability about their queezy reactions to children of difference. If reading it to a younger child, unless your child is especially precocious and patient, summarize the pages to about 1/2 the words. The concepts are great-
It would be nice to complete the reading of this book by including a list of all the ways a special child is abled. Perhaps your child could make a list of the able qualities of the child they know who heroically and daily overcome the fears of others and a life with more hardship. They could also acknowlege and appreciate their gifts of walking, running, speaking etc.
KW

As a teacher with a hearing impairment teaching children about diversity is a priority in my classroom. I purchase many books in a wide range on the subjuct of differences and multiculturalism.

The picures were beautiful. The writing however was not an easy read for young children. I try to get books that will be good for a wide age range. For example 4 to 9 years old. The most important aspect that I found very wrong was Ms. Shriver's use of words. As a teacher I am teaching children to use the proper language and believe me in the 21st century you do not explain to a child that another child is "retarded." This is what she called Timmy in explaining to her daughter Kate what was wrong with Timmy.
You explain the best way you can that the child is mentally challenged. Also the use of the word handicapped is very outdated. I know that it is still used in parking lots as in Handicapped Parking, but it is really not a the proper word to us to refer to people with disabilities.
I correct people all the time when they ask if I was born deaf. I point out I was born Hearing-impaired. I teach this to children in the simplest way possible. I explain the difference between deaf and hearing-impaired. I am currently working to have my book published in order for young children to see that there will be adults in their life that will have disabilities and yet those adults can be successful.
It is important that children learn about other children from all cultures whether it be ethnic or not. Children with disabilities have their own culture and they want to share it with us. They do not want our sympathy but only for us to see that they are different and yet they have goals like everyone else and that it is possible for them to achieve those goals.
I only hope that when people set out to write books of this type that they thoroughly research the subject and the age intended.

I did not like this book, but I will attempt to point out some good things first. The illustrations are beautiful--kind of like impressionist paintings of children. Nice to look at. And the book is about an important subject--how to help "normal" children understand "disabled" children and how they're really all very similar.

Now to the bad stuff.

This book is far, far too wordy. Even the dedication takes up a whole page! The dialogues between the children are unrealistic, stilted, and far too long. I can't believe that most children would practically bare their souls to each other the first time they met. There is too much explanation and not enough action--Mom telling stories and child listening reverently as though this suddenly makes everything okay. As though listening to a parent ever made a child suddenly know exactly what to say and do! And the "God" stuff got on my nerves--the blurb doesn't say anything about this being a religious book.

Although the book's central theme, "be strong inside," is a good message, the story itself doesn't do a thing to make the theme seem real. And we never do get to find out what's "wrong" with Timmy--saying "he's just like everybody else" is kind of unrealistic. Wouldn't it be better to point out the similarities along with the differences?

Not recommended.

I am a Lutheran Church librarian in Florida who bought this book for our church library. It stresses that though we may have different traits and characteristics we are all worthy of love, respect and human dignity. It discusses a mentally-challenged little boy and how he can be a good playmate even though he is a little slow. So what? He is still a persdon worthy of dignity and acceptance. This book stresses kindness on a personal level and a live-and-let-live attitude. This is a vital life lesson for our children to learn early on, and is a great conversation starter. This book will help cut down on bullying, marginalization and dehumanization of the mentally and physically challenged among us. After all, who among us does not have some sort of shortcoming? Children need to know that perfection is an impossibility and so they should expect people to do the best job they can but not expect perfection in themselves or others. The illustrations appear to be done in pastels and are very attractive. Great Job, Maria! Keep them coming!