Book Review: My Friend Isabelle

Woloson, Eliza. Illustrated by Bryan Gough. My Friend Isabelle. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House, Inc., 2003.

My Friend Isabelle is a children’s picture book written for a lower elementary level. It is told from the point of view of a child named Charlie. Charlie introduces his friend Isabelle. “Even though we are the same age, we are different.” For the first half of the book, we hear about things that make the two children different from one another, some physically, some emotionally. During the second half, Charlie tells about activities they like to do together.

I liked this book because it not only taught about differences and similarities, but it stressed the importance of both. This book also put the child first, rather than the disability. Isabelle does many of the things in this story as a normal child might, such as pretending to go shopping together, or saying “CHEERS!” with sippy cups as they sit and eat together.

Isabelle is a child with Down Syndrome, although it is never directly stated in the text of the book. The only problem I had with this book was that I felt if you had no prior knowledge about Down’s, you wouldn’t take very much away from this book regarding disability. Rather, I think that younger students would focus on the message of friendship and what makes people similar or different from one another. While this is important, students also need to be educated on why Isabelle might do some things differently. This book could be used in a classroom, but would need background explanation for students to fully understand.