3 out of 4 stars
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My Friend Josh Has DCD by Christine Draper is an informational picture book that is designed to teach kids about developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The author’s son has DCD, so she wanted to teach children about the disorder in a positive manner. This book does that nicely. Told from Josh’s friend’s point of view, the book goes through the different symptoms of Josh’s disorder. It talks about the things he can and can’t do. It also states some of the different facts of DCD. Through this educational book, the reader gets a great overview of developmental coordination disorder.
I really enjoyed how much information was included in this book. It can be hard for children to understand when someone else is different than they are. This book is a great way to explain DCD to them. The information is given in a light-hearted manner that would be easy for children to grasp. It would be the perfect book for children who know someone with DCD. Even as an adult, I learned a lot from reading this book.
I also liked the illustrations in the book. I believe that artwork is one of the most important parts of a children’s book, and the pictures in this book were great! They matched the text well and were very eye-catching. They would easily capture the attention of young children to help keep them engaged as the book is read.
While I really enjoyed this book, there were a couple of downfalls. One is that there were quite a few errors in the book, especially for its length. There were misspelled words, improper capitalization, and other grammar errors. While the errors in this book might not be a big deal to most adults, they would be to kids. They go against the grammar rules they learn in school. This can be confusing, which is why it is so important that children’s books are properly edited. I would definitely suggest another round of editing for this book.
Another downfall of the book was the writing style. While I liked that it seemed to have the voice of a child, I didn’t like the repetitiveness and disorganization of the writing. For example, there was one sentence in which “also” and “too” were both used when just one was needed. The organization of ideas could also use some work. There were a few places where it jumped between thoughts without warning or strayed from the main idea. The style wasn’t a major problem, but it was distracting.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. I loved the content of the book, but the overall execution could be improved upon. The book needs one more round of editing, and the style could be refined. If the book were revised, I would definitely consider increasing the score. Even as written, I would recommend this book to any children who know someone with DCD and want to know more and to any parents that want to teach their children about this disorder.
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My Friend Josh has DCD
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