Stephanie Riggs

This book tells the story of a 14 year-old boy, named Josh, who has dwarfism. Throughout the book, Josh shares his experiences, including the challenges he faces in his everyday life and his plans for the future. Josh is very positive and lives his life normally. I absolutely loved that there were a few pages in the book that included pictures of successful people who also have dwarfism; this showed that a disability should not define a person. I loved that the book also showed that Josh was treated with kindness and respect. He's just like the rest of his classmates, even though he is 'little'.… (mais)

This book is about Josh the a 14 years dwarf boy. This book captures Josh’s every day moments and how he faces the difficulties in his life. For example, Josh shops for clothes but has to have almost everything cut down; he goes grocery shopping but needs someone to pull things from high shelves. Even though Josh has health difficulties, his dream and aspirations are similar to those of many in his age. This book describes Josh confident attitude, supportive family and friends, and adjustments to physical surrounding . Josh talked about how he found different ways to achieve his goals. For instance, basketball is his passion, but because he is too short to play, ha managed the team. Children can learn from his story to appreciate their ability and how they can help their friends with disability. Children with disability also will learn about many successful people’s stories with disabilities that Josh mentioned in this book, and they can be like them and achieve their dreams. “ The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that everyone faces challenges.” This is what Josh said, and this the important thing that children should learn to encourage themselves to overcome the difficulties in their lives.… (mais)

This book allows us to see life from the perspective of Josh, a teenage boy that has dwarfism. The pictures are real life photos showing Josh's life. He includes some medical information along with issues all teenagers think about, like going to the movies and playing sports. Josh lets us see how he handles things in his daily life, like getting dressed. When Josh needs help, he isn't afraid to ask his family or even strangers to get things done. He lets us see that he can grow up to select any career since he provided examples of professionals (i.e. doctors, counselors) that have dwarfism. The last couple of pages include some of his friends that are regular stature that have their own challenges. The author included a page that provided the reader with information on dwarfism, so they could have more insight on the medical condition. The lat page has short biographies on the author, photographer, and the nonprofit organization, Little People of America.
I did notice this book was old since it included a pay phone. Most of my students would not be able to connect with that part of the story since we no longer use pay phones. Overall, this book lets children see that people are different but it doesn't mean we should sell ourselves short.… (mais)

Never sell yourself short is a story about a little boy named Josh in the eighth grade. Josh was born with a disease called achondroplasia. This disease is the most common cause of short stature. He talks about his struggles as he was growing up, the looks he got from people passing by, and how this disease has affected his body. As he grows older, Josh stops growing at 4 feet. He accepts this with confidence and still has many friends who support him. What I love about this book and how it addresses disabilities is that Josh accepts what he has and who he is. This book tells readers it is okay to be disabled, you just have to learn to live it, make it work. He talks about how sometimes, he has to rely on others to help him, but that’s okay because we all rely on others occasionally. This story can be helpful to the students who are disabled as well as those who aren’t.… (mais)