Be Good to Eddie Lee

Summer has finally arrived and Christy is trying to figure out what she wants to do with it. As she sits on her front porch making a plan, she notices her neighbor across the way, Eddie Lee. Eddie Lee has Down's Syndrome and Christy thinks to herself how her mother wants her to be nice to Eddie Lee. But Christy has some thoughts of her own because she thinks for once her mother is wrong about something. Christy believes Eddie Lee is one of God's mistakes. Those troubling feelings set the scene for our story as Christy and her good friend, JimBud, set off to find frog eggs. Christy is angry that Eddie Lee, that dummy, is following them. "Go home," she tells him emphatically. But what begins as a trek to find eggs, turns into an afternoon of magic and appreciation. Down by the pond, Eddie Lee teaches Christy to see the beauty around her and to honor the feelings of even a mama frog who might not want her eggs snatched away never to hatch. Looking at her reflection in the water Eddie Lee laughs and says "You look funny, Christy." But is it how you look that counts? Or is it what you hold in your heart that counts? As with any book illustrated by Floyd Cooper, the illustrations offer beauty, light and open a pathway into our best self. This is a beautiful honest adventure that connects us all. Ages 5-9 32 pages