Elementary students pen book, written and illustrated to shed positive light on the upside of Down Syndrome

Kim Robinson's third-grade class at Gideon Elementary School recently wrote and illustrated a book about the up side of Down Syndrome.

Photo provided

The non-fiction book, entitled "The Up Side of Down," describes the positive or "up" characteristics of a schoolmate with Down Syndrome, Beau Pirtle.

"The students decided on a non-fiction book about the boy with Down Syndrome for a couple of reasons," said Project Coordinator and Reading Specialist Denise Yount. "He was new to our school, a Kindergarten student, and very engaging and friendly. Also, he is the son of their third grade teacher, Kennett resident Kim Robinson. His dad is Jeff Pirtle, another Kennett resident."

Yount said the class began working on the concept for the story in January 2009.

"They decided in order to provide all the elements of a authentic story - plot, setting, theme, etc. - to personally interview their subject, Beau Pirtle, and do a little research on Down Syndrome," Yount said. "The class did so and learned about Beau's favorite food, places to go, teacher, and other [favorite things]. The class also learned a bit about what Down Syndrome is and how it affects development.

"They also learned that Dr. John Down first described the condition in the 1800's.

According to Yount, the theme of the book is that all children learn differently and that Beau is more like his peers than different from them.

After deciding to do the book, Yount said the class "scurried" to write and illustrate the book with each student contributing an illustration or part of the story.

"Being third graders, artwork did pose a challenge; however, the students chose stick figures for their main characters because most of the kids could draw those in a consistent manner throughout the book," Yount said. "Kim and I coordinated their efforts to reach the March 15, 2009 deadline."

Recently, Scholastic notified the class that the book has been chosen as one of 25 Honorable Mention books, selected from thousands of entries from all across the United States.

Along with the Honorable Mention, the class received a $500 voucher for books from Scholastic.