Free as a Bird

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.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 02/22/2010
ISBN: 9781554884476
Pages: 168
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.10h x 5.20w x 0.40d
Award: Governor General's Literary Awards - Finalist
Award: Young Adult Canadian Book Award - Finalist

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

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