While still in college, several friends and I went looking for a place we could live and share the rent --- poor students, you know how it is. We found a three bedroom, two bath apartment for $225 a month. (Mind you, this was in 1977.) We moved in. I still live in the same complex, all these years later. Those roommates, and others, have come and gone. I've moved to a one-bedroom apartment. My bookstacks are now my roommates.

Not many others have been around here as long as I have. One couple, who live just across the walk from me, have been here eight or nine years. We've become very good friends, almost family. They have two young children -- an eight-year-old who is, well, a typical eight-year-old. And they have a seven-year-old. Young Shawn is a "special needs child" -- Down Syndrome. From the outset, he's been a real challenge. He had undergone two surgeries to correct problems with his heart. And, as expected, he's had problems developmentally. He can't really communicate with words, but he has a way to let you know what he wants by the look on his face and the peculiar sounds he makes.

Shawn and I have become real buddies. I've baby-sat him, taken him for walks, gone swimming with him (he's become quite a swimmer in his own right!). He trusts me and knows how much I care about him. (The older son has become a bit more independent, but we're big buddies, too.) I take so much delight being with Shawn. I know there's another little boy bottled up in there. I always assume he knows what I'm saying to him, and I sometimes see the frustration on his face when he can't communicate his needs.

Sammy's Song is a powerfully written book about another special needs child. The Moore's -- mom and dad and a houseful of children -- are a devout Mormon family, trying their best to meet life's challenges. Raising a houseful of children is one of those challenges. They live on a farm and spend much of their time going to school and doing chores. The youngest, Marni, is the real challenge. A ten year old tomboy, much too fond of hand-to-hand combat (and well able to take care of herself), she's constantly finding herself in trouble with her parents. Try as they may, they can't seem to tame her.

When an aunt dies in an automobile accident, her children are separated and sent to live with relatives. Marni, more than all the others, dreads the fact that they may end up with her cousin Sammy, who she calls "the retard." She is very vocal in her opposition to taking Sammy in. So when her parents return from the funeral with Sammy in tow, Marni goes ballistic, promising to run away.

For reasons that baffle her, Sammy takes a special liking to Marni, and she is given the task of watching him over the summer vacation. Marni's best friend, Jesika, is away visiting relatives, so she really has no excuse for not tending to Sammy's needs. At first angry beyond words, she gradually comes to enjoy Sammy's company. And with that enjoyment comes a growing understanding, helped by her mother's patient explanations, that the Sammy they see on the outside is not the real Sammy on the inside. Inside there is a wonderful child of God who deserves all the good that can come his way.

What unfolds is an amazingly insightful discussion of children with special needs (Sammy's particular challenge is not named, although it does sound like Down Syndrome). As the relationship between the two children grows, they develop a wonderful way of communicating, raising the hope that even Sammy can find a useful place in the Moore family's world.

Challenges come as Marni's friends and schoolmates tease and taunt young Sammy. Marni wants to defend him, but doesn't know how to do it without resorting to fisticuffs. And worse, there is a special class in her elementary school were kids like Sammy end up. And those kids are always the butt of jokes and unkind comments on the part of the other children.

Particularly well done are the incidents where familial hypocrisy emerges. Each of the children is scornful of Marni's initial distaste for having Sammy live with them, but then, in their own way, they find their own masks of piety peeled back to uncover attitudes every bit as disdainful. But with Marni as his champion, the others don't stand a chance.

As you may imagine, my mind went continually to my neighbor Shawn. Every twist of the tale brought back memories of times I've spent with him. I'll likely lend the book to my neighbors; I think they'll find so much pleasure reading it.

Sammy's Song is, quite simply, a beautifully told tale of a young man facing a hostile world, a place where children are cruel and life's circumstances make no sense. It is also a story of love, understanding and redemption. I hope it finds a wide readership.

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Jeff Needle
September 17, 2005