The Sibling Slam Book: What It's REALLY Like to Have a Brother or Sister with Special Needs Edited By Don Meyer

Varied fonts scramble across the notebook pages of a composition book and a space is left on each page for the reader to add her thoughts. It looks like a notebook that has been passed around a room of teenagers. The editor posed a series of 54 personal questions 81 teen sibs, including: What are some advantages of having a sibling with a disability?, Describe a perfect day, Ever feel invisible ? What annoys you the most about the way people treat your sib ?. This book is a compilation of their varied responses.

I definitely recommended this book for people who have sibs with special needs and who want to reflect on how this experience has affected them. But it is also a great resource people who know and love these siblings. Siblings can read this book and know they are not alone in their experiences, both frustrating and joyful. The responses are reflective, and there is relevant information about the needs of siblings on both sides of the realtionship. Any reader could learn from these teens about what it means to grow up and discover your own identity.

By Lauren--secondary teacher