Lesley Ely

I like this book but if I was to teach it I'd read it myself or pick an audiobook that reads slower. I love the illustrations in this book. I admire the students because they persistently talks to Louis and try to include him on what he's doing, especially the main character. I've seen people with disabilities being excluded several times. This book is realistic of the classroom lives of some students with disabilities. There are times when they talk out of turn and many do have another show more teacher with them to help them out. I think this book is suitable for k-3 because it is short and easy to understand. I also think that because I feel it is important to introduce situations like this as soon as possible just to help with understanding and try to limit bullying. show less

I really enjoyed this story and I think it's a great resource to teach someone about autism. Louis is autistic but it's written from the point of view of Louis' classmate. By doing this the reader gets a new perspective from someone who spends a lot of time with a student with a serious disability and how to work around their social deficiencies. In this case, the student and the teacher know that Louis loves to play soccer so they use soccer as a reward for him. I also feel like this book show more can help anyone who doesn't understand the intricacies of autism and the effect it can have on a child's peers as well as himself. The message I got from it is to be open and accepting of others even when you don't understand them. show less

Summary: This book is about kids in a class with a boy named Louis who is on the Autism spectrum. It talks about how Louis is different but also talks about what makes him happy and what makes him the same. In the end, they end up finding something Louis really likes to do which is soccer.
Opinion: As a special ed teacher, this is freaking amazing. It makes Louis's character seem so normal. The kids around him just treat him like any other kid. I feel as though Autism is represented very well show more in this book. show less

Louis is a new boy in school and he isn't like everybody else. The narrator looks after him and knows that Louis is special and has a tendency to repeat what he hears. At recess, Louis runs in and out of the boys' soccer game which makes the boys mad, but Louis doesn't notice. Sometimes Louis would talk at the wrong time, like when Miss Allie told everybody to sit up straight and Louis repeated her, but Miss Allie didn't get mad like she would if someone else had done that. One morning when show more Sam was showing off with his new soccer ball and Louis was watching him, Sam asked Louis if he wanted to play a game. Louis just repeated Sams. Sam dribbled the ball around the playground while Louis ran after him. Sam would pass the ball to Louis, but Louis didn't quite get it, so Sam kept the game going while Louis chased the ball. Every time Louis's foot touched the ball, Sam would yell, "Great game, Louis!" and Louis would smile. All afternoon Louis drew a picture and every time he picked a new color, he would say, "Great game," until he ran out of colors. The narrator girl told Louis to show his picture to Miss Allie and suggested that the picture was about soccer to Miss Allie, so she got Sam and Sam pointed out the ball, the game, Sam, and Louis. Sam then asked Miss Allie if him and Louis could go outside to play soccer, so Miss Allie asked Louis if he wanted to go play soccer, in which Louis responded by repeating Miss Allie. The two went out to play and the narrator girl was not happy because Miss Allie would never let everyone else go play outside when it wasn't recess and the narrator realized that sometimes we're allowed to break the rules for special people.

This was a good book. I really liked how much the other students included Louis, thanks to Miss Allie. The way Miss Allie ran her classroom created a very safe, inclusive, and accepting environment for all students, which I believe is why the students treated Louis the way they did. Although, I really did not like how Louis was always called special throughout the book. I felt like this just casted Louis as the victim, which is not something that should be done in books that highlight disabilities. I also felt like the teachers in the book favored Sam for being Louis's friend, like when they allowed the two to go outside and play when nobody was supposed to be outside. show less