Summary of "Ian's Walk" by Laurie Lears

Lears, Laurie

Ian’s Walk

1998

Albert Whitman and Company

Winner of the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award

Keywords: Autism, Differently

Summary: An older sister is going to the park with a friend. Her young brother, Ian who has autism, wants to go to. On the say to the park the children do things the sister likes. On the way home they do what Ian finds enjoyable. This is a book that takes a simplistic look at a complex disability.

Teaching Strategies:

• Idaho social studies content standard, “1.SS.1.1.1; recognize that each person belongs to many groups such as family, school, friends and neighborhood.” This could be an introduction for children to being a discussion on different disabilities people have.
• This could be an introduction to a discussion on the difference between a handicap and a disability.
• For something a little more light hearted students could use this book to create maps of where Ian walked. This goes with the first grade Idaho social studies content goal 2.1, “analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environment on the earth’s surface.