I Am a Masterpiece!
An Empowering Story About Inclusivity and Growing Up with Down Syndrome
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Tween actress Mia Armstrong celebrates her fun, funny, beautiful childhood living with Down syndrome in this debut picture book.
Mia likes many of the things other people like--going to the beach, the color blue, drawing. But she doesn't like when strangers stare at her because she looks different from them.
Down syndrome allows Mia to see and understand the world in a way that may not make sense to others. She considers it her superpower--and instead of it making her strange, she considers herself a masterpiece. As we all are.
In this sparkling picture book, Mia offers a glimpse into the life of a child with Down syndrome, helping some readers see themselves in a book and helping others understand those friends, classmates, and family members who are neurodivergent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Opening lines establish Armstrong's direct tone in this affirming autobiographical debut: "I have Down syndrome, and I like myself exactly as I am. I just want people to be nice to me and to like me for who I am, too." Noting that "sometimes people forget their manners," the speaker details a challenging episode at a shoe store, where "grown-ups act like I'm invisible." At school, the protagonist and classmates, depicted with varying abilities and skin tones, draw self-portraits. When Mia's, a portrait of "how I feel, not how I look" as well as "how I see the world," proves different from the others, she proudly asserts, "I think that makes it the best of all," modeling a confidence later supported by her family's praise. Appearing frequently as multiple vignettes on a page, Thompson's delicate pencil and gouache renderings amplify the emotion that infuses the text's vision of external patience and self-love. An author's note opens, and a q&a about Down syndrome concludes. Ages 4–8.
