By Nancy Tupper Ling
A big sister adores her little sister, who has Down syndrome, and is embarrassed by her on the same page, and neither feeling gets taken away from her.
Rachel is telling you about her little sister, Alicia May, and she starts where you'd start about someone you love: the good parts. Alicia May talks to the animals at the zoo and gives them names. She's curious about ladybugs and dragonflies, loves dogs and horses and getting her nails painted, is friendly to everyone, and gives good hugs. Then Rachel tells you the rest. Alicia May can be annoying. She can be embarrassing. There are days Rachel doesn't want to be anywhere near her, and days she's tired of being the one who looks out for her. But when the boys on the school bus start in on Alicia May, Rachel is out of her seat before anyone else, because the only person who gets to be irritated with her sister is Rachel. Alicia May has Down syndrome. Rachel says so plainly, and then goes back to telling you who her sister actually is.
I'd hand this to a sibling, because it does the thing siblings rarely get: it holds two feelings at once and never makes Rachel pick between them. She isn't on a journey from resentment to love. She has both the whole way through, on the same page, proud of Alicia May and worn out by her, defending her fiercely and wishing she'd stop being so much. Nothing in the book treats that as a problem to fix. And Alicia May comes across as a person with taste and opinions and a sense of humor, someone who names the zoo animals and wants her nails done, rather than a condition with a girl attached. Shennen Bersani's pictures are soft and full of detail, and a lot of children will look at Alicia May's face and just see a girl.