Critical Review: We’ll Paint the Octopus Red

We’ll Paint the Octopus Red
By Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen

Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. We'll Paint The Octopus Red. Bethesda: Woodbine House,
1998.


We’ll Paint the Octopus Red, by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen is a picture book written for children from the ages of 3-7 years old. This story is about a little girl named Emma who just found out her new baby brother has Down syndrome. At first Emma did not even want a baby brother but then she had a talk with her dad about the things she could do with her brother. When the upsetting news came home to Emma that her baby brother had Down syndrome things got a little more complicated. Emma began to ask all the questions again about having a baby brother and her dad soon explained to her that her brother with Down syndrome will be able to do all the things that a little brother can do but it will just take a little more time and help from their family to teach him new things. Every page in the book has water color pictures with vibrant colors and minimal text. The pictures were very inviting and written in a way where a child could understand the positive messages. The back few pages of the book contain questions about Down syndrome written at a childs level. These questions answer the basics about what Down syndrome is and how a baby cannot grow out of Down syndrome. These questions also explain how a person with Down syndrome will act when they are older and why they are special. This book is perfect for teaching a family about Down syndrome. The pictures throughout the story reveal a baby with his family, and not a baby with Down syndrome. This showed young readers that babies born with Down syndrome can do the same things that babies do without Down syndrome. The author, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen wrote this book as an outsider, however she has background on disabilities from getting her B.S. in education and teaching early childhood classes at the YMCA.