Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. We'll Paint the Octopus Red. MD; Woodbine House, 1998.We’ll Paint the Octopus Red by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen tells the story of a young girl, named Emma, who is anxious for her new baby sibling to arrive. Since Emma was unsure of what to expect when the baby came, her father and her listed off a bunch of things they could do together, like feed the calves and paint with rubber octopuses. Once the baby was born though, Emma’s father told her that her new brother Isaac had Down syndrome. Emma was then worried that she wouldn’t be able to do all the things she had planned. Her dad reassured her by saying that it would just take time and patience and Isaac would eventually be able to do everything.
This book definitely portrayed Down syndrome in a positive light. Once Emma found out that her brother was born with Downs, it seemed natural that she didn’t understand what Isaac would and wouldn’t be able to do. The father was used as an informational character where he explained that “as long as we were patient with Isaac, and helped him when he needed it, there probably wasn’t anything he couldn’t do” (Stuve-Bodeen 20). This phrase sums up the concerns that many families probably have once they hear they have a child with special needs, making the book beneficial for siblings and parents of children with Down syndrome to read.
Another nice attribute to this book is that there are “Questions and Answers about Down Syndrome” located in the back. The questions were ones once asked by actual children with a brother or sister with Down syndrome. This section could be extremely helpful because it answers the questions in a way in which children would be able to understand them. For example, when asked What is Down syndrome? the answer didn’t say anything about the chromosomal differences but described how a person with Downs looks and acts. This way, book is designed for any age of audience and should be used by families and schools with children with Down syndrome.
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