Rosie Loves Jack

by Mel Darbon

Overview

Rosie is a sixteen-year-old girl with Down syndrome who's fighting for little freedoms, tolerance, and love.

"They can't send you away. What will we do? We need us. I stop your angry, Jack. And you make me strong. You make me Rosie."

Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So, when they're separated, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even struggle across London and travel to Brighton, though the trains are canceled, and the snow is falling. Even though some people might think a girl with Down syndrome could never survive on her own.

Introducing a strong, determined, and neurodiverse teen protagonist, debut author Mel Darbon gives readers a unique character experience with a much-needed, alternative point of view. This contemporary young adult novel is a voice-driven, heartfelt story of finding your place in a world that often leaves no room for outsiders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682633793
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	832,623
Product dimensions:	5.26(w) x 8.01(h) x 0.87(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Mel Darbon spent a large part of her childhood inventing stories to keep her autistic brother happy on car journeys. She won't mention the time spent with him standing by railway crossings waiting for the InterCity 125 to go past, as she wouldn't want to be labeled a train spotter. Life took her in many different directions working as a theater designer and freelance artist, as well as teaching young adults with learning disabilities and running creative workshops for teenage moms. She lives with her family in England.

Editorial Reviews

★ "The plot is so engrossing that the book is almost impossible to put down. Yes, Rosie loves Jack, and readers are going to love Rosie." —Booklist, Starred Review

From the Publisher

02/26/2021

Gr 7 Up—Rosie is 16 years old, attends a special education program at the local college, and has a dog named Winniebago and a brother named Ben. Rosie also has Down syndrome and is deeply in love with her boyfriend, Jack. Jack experienced a brain injury as a child and has trouble controlling his anger. After a particularly bad outburst, he is sent away to a special program in Brighton. Rosie's father sees this as an opportunity to keep the young lovers apart, as he doesn't trust Jack. Rosie has different ideas and cooks up a plan to run away to Brighton. Over her multi-day journey, Rosie travels through London navigating buses and trains and encountering hosts of characters, some kind and some horrific, such as a Polish pimp forcing young girls into sex work. While books that depict people with disabilities having desires and romantic relationships are needed, this one doesn't quite measure up. Rosie's first-person voice is inconsistent and she is a character with little depth beyond her devotion to her boyfriend. However, Darbon does successfully and poignantly capture the lack of agency people with disabilities often experience. In fact, it is the inability of Rosie's parents to acknowledge her desires that leads her to desperate measures. Rosie and Jack are white. VERDICT Although readers will find themselves rooting for Rosie throughout her journey, this title is not recommended for collections looking to beef up their fiction featuring characters with disabilities.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

School Library Journal

2020-12-15
A teen with Down syndrome runs away to find her boyfriend when her parents forbid their relationship.

Sixteen-year-old Rose Tremayne and her boyfriend, Jack, were made for each other. Jack, who was born with a brain injury, helps Rosie with reading and writing; Rosie calms his anger issues. But after a violent outburst, Jack is sent away—and Rosie’s parents think she should forget him. Rosie resolves to find Jack herself, taking the train to London alone and venturing into the city’s labyrinthine subway system. As she copes with transportation setbacks, she encounters assorted strangers—some kind and some with unsavory intentions. Though secondary characters lack depth, Rosie’s narration sympathetically expresses her determination, frustration, and naïveté in equal measure, and others’ patronizing and rude reactions to her disability are sadly realistic. However, much of the plot feels contrived. Despite Darbon’s efforts to show that Rosie is more than her Down syndrome, she doesn’t escape being a symbol of childlike innocence, a problematic trope. While a twist darkly demonstrates how people with intellectual disabilities can be targets of abuse, its execution is somewhat implausible. Portrayed primarily through Jack’s misspelled postcards and florid prose such as “The sun came out in my head and my heart grew wings and took me up to the moon,” the romance never quite feels three-dimensional; the ending, though touching, is rather pat. Most characters default to White.

An earnest but belabored story of love and cognitive disability. (author's note) (Romance. 14-16)

Kirkus Reviews