Let's Talk About It: Extraordinary Friends

Extraordinary friends is a great book to share with young children. Fred Rogers does a great job in explaining the disabilities to the readers without going into too many details. Rogers discusses how everyone has a different way to do or say something, whether we are disabled or not. He brings up scenarios of meeting other people and how we can act. He mentioned how it okay to be surprised when we meet someone with a disability but sometimes we must hold in our questions until we get to know the person better. I love how disabilities was addressed in this book because unlike the Helen Keller book that I had previously read, this one begins stating “There are all sorts of people in the world, and every one of us is different. That’s show more something that everyone special.” Feelings is something that is mainly addressed in this story. A lot of the time, the author relates what he is trying to teach the kids back to them by saying, how would you feel? Isn’t that like us? This book can really be useful to children who are just learning about disabilities and I would highly recommend it. show less

This is the most Mr. Roger-y book ever. It truly embodies Mr. Roger's attitude and spirit. Essentially this book encourages people to politely approach anyone who's different from you and promotes asking questions to get to know someone on a deeper level. My favorite part of this book discusses the future, "As you grow, you'll find there's so much to learn about people... so much more than what you see when you first meet them. And getting to know other people can help you learn more about yourself, too." This is a fantastic book for children!

I highly recommend this book. It can be difficult to explain certain disabilities one might have with a child. In fact, the unknown can be scary for children and adults alike. Fred Rogers, in his book “Let’s talk about it: Extraordinary Friends,” tackles this subject in the only way you would expect, with love. Removing any shame, he acknowledges that children will have question like, ‘why is he like that,’ or ‘how does he eat or get dressed…’ The use of photographs in the story can further understanding of this important topic involving real people. This book might also be used to facilitate discussion opportunities in families and in educational settings. In “Extraordinary Friends,” Mr. Rogers celebrates our show more diversity and uniqueness while opening the possibility of friendship through similarities. After all, “everybody needs friends.” show less

This story starts off by saying we're all different and special but we're also alike in may ways too. For example everyone wants to be loved. It goes on to say that it's okay to have questions about people who are different from you. Mr. Rogers also says it's okay to help someone but you should ask first because someone might not need or want help. I like this book because it shows kids that people with disabilities are just like everyone else and do many of the same things other people do. I also like how it didn't focus on one type of disability and it had pictures of kids of different races.

Lots of good pictures to help start discussions about children with special needs. Very well worded as always with Mr. Fred Rogers. Very informative about how to politely ask questions and learn more about children with special needs. Helps children to see that all children want to do the same things, but may have to do them differently. Not a exciting book, just informative. I feel this book portrays the children with special needs truthfully and honestly so that others will feel comfortable asking questions and becoming friends with them.

"Extraordinary Friends" tells a wonderful story about accepting and loving the people around us. The book focuses on children with disabilities and how other children come to be their friends. The book explains how although some people may have their differences, we are all alike in many ways. Not only is this book great for young readers because it introduces them to a concept they may fear or be uncomfortable with, but it is also written in terms that is easy for them to understand. The book also contains real-life photos where students can see other children playing, laughing, and helping one another.

Readers can definitely tell that this is a book written by Mister Rogers. It is a book that talks about how to go about learning about people with disabilities. The book goes on to describe how the more we know about people the easier it is to be friends. I like the idea of this book encouraging readers to ask questions about disabilities because I agree that all children should be aware that there is a huge amount of diversity between all people. However, something about this book is a little too unrealistic to me. For instance, at one point, in a mall, a "normal" child goes up to a mother with a mentally disabled child in a wheelchair to start asking questions about her child's disability and wheelchair. I do not think that this is show more realistic nor apropriate. I do not think I would read this book to children because I feel that there are other books that do a much better job of explaining and making children feel comfortable with disabilities. show less