Final Book Review #2: "Big Brother Dustin"

Alden Carter, himself, is an insider to this subject because his wife, Carol, (who did the photography for this book) was a social worker her whole life and has dealt with many families that are having troubles with disabilities in their families. The Carter's often spent many dinner conversations about what was happening with Carol's clients at work. The Carters are very familiar with disabilities and often travel around the country talking about their experiences with disability and what it's like to write about it for children.

"Big Brother Dustin" by Alden R. Carter, is a book about a young boy with Down Syndrome (Dustin) that finds out that he will soon have a new baby sister and finds out that his mother is pregnant. Dustin's parents are unsure of what to name the baby that is on the way, so they appoint Dustin to the job of coming up with the perfect name for her. Dustin talks to both of his grandparents and wants to somehow name his new baby sister after both of his grandmother's (because he likes their names, "Anne" and "Mary")but is unsure of which name to choose. In the meantime, Dustin learns all about how to be a big brother by learning how to change diapers, how to pick out baby clothes, and how to set up a crib for his new sister. Dustin hates waiting so long for his new sister to be born, but in the meantime he comes up with the perfect name for his new sister. Dustin thinks that MaryAnn would be the perfect name since it has both of his grandmother's names in it. His parents love this idea and agree to name the new baby MaryAnn. Finally, when Dustin is staying at his grandparent's house, he hears that his mom and dad are at the hospital and that his new baby sister was born overnight! Dustin picks out flowers for his mom at the hospital and a balloon for his new sister. Dustin meets his sister for the first time and the following pages are pictures of Dustin and MaryAnn playing together. Much like "Where's Chimpy?", "Big Brother Dustin" uses real life photographs of Dustin, his family, and his new baby sister. The pictures make the story more realistic and make Dustin more identifiable to readers that may or may not have a disability themselves. I really enjoyed this book as a piece of diverse literature because, once again, there is no mention that Dustin has a disability. Instead, the book focuses on Dustin as a regular child that is excited for his new baby sister! We see that when the new baby is born she doesn't have Down Syndrome. The following pages depict how well Dustin and MaryAnn get along when they are playing together despite Dustin's disability. I think that this is an important message for young readers and that this book would be great for students to see how even though Dustin has a disability, he is still very similar to non-disabled children and able to establish a positive relationship with his newborn sister.



Carter, Alden R.. Big Brother Dustin. 1983. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 1997.