Rosie Loves Jack – Mel Darbon

Rosie loves Jack and Jack loves Rosie. So, when they get split up Rosie is willing to do anything to find the boy that makes the sun shine in her head. This included running away from home, travelling across London and to Brighton alone. Rosie faces many difficulties along the way to find Jack. This journey would be hard for any 16-year-old girls even more so for Rosie with down syndrome.

There are so many reasons that this book is incredible and so many reasons that this book should be picked up and read by so many people.

Rosie is extraordinary and her voice bursts out of every single page. This whole book shows Rosie’s thought process through every situation she goes through and it is such an eye-opening read. With Rosie being a teenager with down syndrome this thought process is even more so eye-opening to see how Rosie thinks through every situation.  It also shows how much hope and positivity Rosie has in herself to make it to Jack and her ability to be independent and strong.

This book may seem to be all about Rosie but when you consider it is so much more than that. Rosie loves Jack and this entire book is about telling everyone that. Jack makes the sun shine out of her head and even though Jack Is broken Rosie loves him for who he is. So many people treat Rosie and Jack differently and although Rosie may not know it but by doing what she is doing she is changing everyone’s opinion on the pair of them.

Even though Jack is mainly a background character as a reader you get to see his personality just as much as Rosie’s. Jack’s notes to Rosie are lovely additions to the book and let you see Jack, his personality and how much he loves Rosie a lot more.

This book has a real mixture of good and bad people throughout and this is incredibly realistic. These parts of the story both scared me and helped restore my faith in humanity. This book has good people, kind people, horrible people, sad people and a lot of the types of people in this world.  It is the perfect depiction of human’s ability to be good or bad.

It not only shows the types of people it also shows the prejudices that a girl with down syndrome must overcome on a day to day basis. This book also shows the double standards that society has on girls and boys of the same ages.

The down syndrome representation in this book is incredible.  I grew up being close to several people with down syndrome and they would always say how underrepresented they feel. This book represents them perfectly. If you are unaware of down syndrome and the issues people with down syndrome face this book will open your eyes. It shows that when it down to it all human emotions are the same whether society views you as “normal” or not.

Mel Darbon has written such an incredible book and I can’t thank her enough for giving this story to the YA community. She has certainly given readers the opportunity to “see the world through new eyes”. I will certainly be picking up any more books that Mel Darbon writes.

This book is exceptional; I am sure it will win awards over the course of the year. I cannot recommend this book enough and I will be recommending this book for many years to come.