REVIEWS+

I Am a Masterpiece!: An Empowering Story About Inclusivity and Growing Up with Down Syndrome

by Mia Armstrong (text) & narrated by Mia Armstrong
Listening Library. Jan. 2024. 17p. $5. ISBN 9780593826461.
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PreS-Gr 4–Tween actor and activist Armstrong makes an impressive authorial and narrating debut, proving she’s her best advocate: “Don’t whisper. Don’t look away. Do say hello.” She uses humor and kindness to diffuse hurtful situations—particularly with rude and unthinking adults. When her class is tasked with drawing self-portraits, Armstrong’s is “something special, something to show how happy I feel being me.” Her classmates don’t initially understand, until she explains, “It’s how I feel, not how I look.” Armstrong—who patiently explains why she’s “hard to understand sometimes”—is an infectiously effusive reader. She also gets a little help from her friends—Aubrielle Bazerkanian, James O’Neal III, and BFF Monroe Rebecca-Blu Cleary—to role-play her ending FAQs.
VERDICT To choose only audio would be to miss Armstrong’s “best” self-portrait
Reviewed by and the rest of Alexandra Thompson’s whimsical, inclusive art. Libraries should consider enabling read-alongs by providing all formats. , Jul 01, 2024

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