My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay

Zulay doesn’t like being different from her friends, but she is. She’s blind.

She has special teachers and has to learn special things, like how to use a cane to get around, and how to type on her brailler. She also gets to pick her own event for the school field day. When she chooses to run track, her special teacher teaches her how to stay on the track and helps her practice running.

My then 6-year-old stumbled upon this book at her school’s used book sale, and it quickly became a favorite in our house. Zulay’s beautifully written voice describes what school is like for her and her friends: they wear their uniforms, come by car or bus, seemingly mundane details about some typical children. A careful reader will notice Zulay describes scenes using sounds and smells, not visuals. She describes the sound of shoe shuffling, her teacher who smells like “Juicy Fruit and fresh outside.” There are allusions to the cane that remains folded at the back of her desk, that she… show more.