Fact Sheet
/Authors: Bryan and Tom Lambke
Publisher: Story Monsters Press
Price: $15.95 / Paperback / Non-fiction
Size: 9 x 6 / 112 pages / paperback, perfect-bound
Pub Date: 2006
ISBN: 978-0-9750404-2-2
eISBN: 978-0-9750404-3-9
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
All too often, we shroud ourselves in ignorance, thus preventing us from learning from others whom we consider to be somehow “different.” In his book I Just Am: A Story of Down Syndrome Awareness and Tolerance, Bryan Lambke, a young man with Down syndrome, invites us into his world where he lets us know he shares the same dreams and emotions as everyone else.
“My name is Bryan. I have a disability. It's not my fault. I just am ... I do not look like normal. But what is normal? ... I dream. I hope. I have plans. I have goals. Isn't that normal? Or is it? I don't lie. I don't cheat. I don't steal. Now that's not normal. I don't try to deceive. I don't put on an act. I just try to be me. Maybe I'm not normal. I'm not perfect. Who is? I look different. Doesn't everyone? I don't get it. Do you? What is normal? I just am.”
A gold medal winner in the International Special Olympics, Bryan loves his mom and dad and his sister, holds down two jobs, loves sports, and has girlfriends. He invites readers to look at his life and at theirs. Then he asks, “What is normal?”
WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE?
This book is the author's perspective. These are Bryan's thoughts, crafted into words with the help of his father, Tom.
The additional information about Down syndrome that is provided in the book is important for readers to to learn the truth to help make misconceptions about Down syndrome quickly disappear.
