Keeping Up With Roo by Sharlee Glenn

Glen, Sharlee. Keeping Up With Roo: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 2004.

Keeping Up With Roo is a children’s book about a young girl, Gracie, and her best friend and developmentally disabled aunt “Roo.” The two always have fun together, especially when they play school on the farm and teach one another different things. Even though Roo is a grown-up, she has the mind and heart of a child. However, things between them change once Gracie starts school. Now it is difficult for Gracie to find time for Roo because she made new friends and takes piano lessons. She also does not want to play with Roo anymore because she has grown older and recognizes Roo as someone who is “different.” Therefore, she is embarrassed of her. Later on in the story, Gracie accepts her aunt after realizing all Roo has added to her life.

Even though this story never mentions specifically that Roo has a mental disability, I believe that this book still has a very positive portrayal of people with disabilities. First of all, the author of this book, Sharlee Glen, is an insider who based her story on her own experiences. She also grew up on a farm, but had twin aunts, Martha and Mildred, who were both mentally challenged. Just like the story, Sharlee was taught how to read by Martha and still remembers playing school with her. Since Sharlee has a lot of experience with family members who are disabled, she better understands their emotions, actions, and physical appearances.

With this, the illustrations were also very accurate. The illustrations show how Roo’s face may look a little different from the other characters, but Roo is also able to accomplish many other everyday activities, just like anyone else. The illustrations clearly show how much fun Gracie and Roo have together, as well as learning from each other even when things get hard. There is a picture of them on the ground laughing then playing school where Roo is the teacher and Gracie is sitting down on a bucket like a listening student would. Since I have also been lucky enough to have people with disabilities be a part of my life (my sister who is mentally and physically handicap, and children I have worked with who have a variety of disabilities), I do not see any misconceptions of Roo through the illustrations. I think that because the disability was never mentioned in the book, it allows more freedom for teachers or parents to educate their students or children about different disabilities without focusing on one specific one, since that could cause controversy in the future.

The text in this book also displays different aspects about people with disabilities in a positive way. For instance the story says, “When Gracie was a baby, Roo was the only one who could calm her when she got into a crying fit” (2). Another positive description of someone with disabilities is how Roo taught Gracie how to count to eight as well as the ABC’s (10). In both of these examples, the author shows how Roo can be an adult role model to a child, even with her disabilities. Even when Gracie no longer wants to play with Roo because of the way she looks and acts in front of her friend, the author never states this specifically. The reader can tell by the illustrations and text. This allows the reader to make his or her own realizations that Gracie is embarrassed by the disability that Roo has. Even though this was an upsetting part in the story, readers can learn that no matter who your friends are, there can be times of distance or hardship. In the end, friendships continue to grow because of the mistakes that are learned.

This book also received the Dolly Gray Award for Children’s Literature in Developmental Disabilities. This award recognizes authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional children’s book that appropriately portray individuals with disabilities (Special Needs Project). This accomplishment is recognized in an article I found at Desert News.

Review from the Desert News

Hancock, Laura. “Disabled aunts were author’s inspiration.” Published 3/17/2007.

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In this article, Laura Hancock suggests how Keeping Up With Roo is a positive portrayal of people with disabilities based on the award winning author, the author’s background, and reviews from professionals. Hancock begins by explaining how the author was inspired to write this book based on her happy childhood with her two aunts who were mentally disabled. Because of her real experiences with people with disabilities, she received an award by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Developmental Disabilities. The Dolly Award that I previously mentioned was given to the author because of its positive yet realistic portrayals of individuals with disabilities. Hancock then goes on with her review by summarizing the story about Gracie and Roo’s friendship, and the acceptance of Roo’s disability at the end. Furthermore, the message of the story is critiqued by Tina Dyches, a Brigham Young University education professor and chairman of the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award committee. (Note: she said this upcoming statement without knowing the Dolly Gray Award was already given to the author). Dyches states, "I would say the message is everyone has something to contribute. People with disabilities don't always have to be the recipients of care, but they have something to offer as well." Therefore, when other people can see similarities between themselves and disabled people, they are no longer seen as “different,” but as someone they can relate to. One of my questions that I previously mentioned in my argument was also answered in this article- why did the author never mention the disability in the story? The article states that, “Glenn chose not to use words in the story such as ‘developmentally disabled’ to describe Roo, hoping that the illustrations would explain it” (Hancock). The author also explained that when she was a child, her aunts’ disability was not clear. She did become aware of the differences as she continued to grow, and was then embarrassed as Gracie was. I would then say again, that the illustration of Roo was an excellent interpretation of someone with a disability by being realistic and authentic. On a last note, “We do a disservice to children if we condescend, patronize and spell everything out,” Sharlee Glenn, author of Keeping Up With Roo.