We Can Do It!

We Can Do It! is a picture book illustrated with well shot, lively images of five 3-, 4- and 5-year-old disabled children going about their everyday business of being with their families, going to school, playing, helping with jobs and so on. Aimed at younger children with text written in the children's voices, it is very much a 'can-do' kind of book: 'My name is Gina. I am five years old. I have spina bifida, and I can do lots of things.' But the images are all positive and unsentimental. It also does not hesitate to show the ways in which these children are also different. Young readers will learn from the pictures like those of Sarah (who is blind) 'trailing' the wall with her hand so that she knows where she is going, or Gina explaining her wheelchair to her schoolfriends. This title has an excellent glossary and is an important book for primary school libraries.