Free as a Bird (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781554884476)

Born with Down syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp comes from a time when being a developmentally disabled person could mean growing up behind locked doors and barred windows and being called names like "retard" and "moron." When Ruby Jean's caregiver and loving grandmother dies, her mother takes her to Woodlands School in New Westminster, British Columbia, and rarely visits.

As Ruby Jean herself says: "Can't say why they called it a school -- a school's a place you go for learnin an then after you get to go home. I never learnt much bout ledders and numbers, an I sure never got to go home."

It's here in an institution that opened in 1878 and was originally called the Provincial Lunatic Asylum that Ruby Jean learns to survive isolation, boredom, and every kind of abuse. Just when she can hardly remember if she's ever been happy, she learns a lesson about patience and perseverance from an old crow.

Author: Gina McMurchy-Barber
ISBN-10: 1554884470
ISBN-13: 9781554884476
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Language: English
Published: 02/22/2010
Pages: 168
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.10h x 5.20w x 0.40d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.7
Point Value: 6
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 141686 / Free as a Bird

Award: Governor General's Literary Awards - Finalist
Award: Young Adult Canadian Book Award - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/15/2011 pg. 54
Voice of Youth Advocates 04/01/2010 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
Quill & Quire 04/01/2010 pg. 42