by Jean Little
Often parents were urged to put such children into institutions, where they could be cared for until they died. After all, the doctors said, these children would never be able to walk or speak or learn, and probably would not live long. Many were born with heart defects, which shortened their lives.
Down children have other differences, including some or all of the following: They are smaller than other children and have shorter arms and legs, and stubby fingers and toes. Their faces can appear somewhat flat and their mouths and throats may be so small that feeding them is often difficult. They have trouble sucking on a nipple and frequently choke. Their ears are small and set lower than ears on other children. They are slow to develop both physically and mentally, but they are famous for their sunny dispositions when they are young.
In my story, Abby’s love for her little brother enriches her life. Although caring for him is often burdensome, she cherishes him and recognizes, in him, a blessing she has been given.
During the writing of this book, I heard a scientist speak of the possibility of managing to engineer the chromosome that gives a child Down Syndrome in such a way that it will no longer cause abnormalities. She was quick to say that this is still far in the future. A young adult man with the syndrome, asked for his reaction to this, said he would be pleased to have some of his problems solved, but that he was reluctant to risk trying something that might alter his personality. As I listened to him and others, I thought about how complicated it is to be a human being with this particular set of challenges — not one, but a whole group of them. It is astounding that so much can be affected by one chromosome far too small to be seen by the naked eye.
About the Author
All Fall Down is Jean Little’s fifth title in the Dear Canada series. Her books have been read by generations of children. Some, such as From Anna, Listen for the Singing, Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird, Orphan at My Door and Pippin the Christmas Pig, have become classics. Jean is a member of the Order of Canada and has won the Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize, the CLA Book of the Year Award and numerous other awards, including the Matt Cohen Award: For a Writing Life.
Acknowledgements
So many people helped make this story come to be.
First I owe thanks to my Great-aunt Jen and her sister, my grandmother, Gret. If they had not gone west in 1889 and if Aunt Jen had not kept a diary, Abby would never have existed.
My gratitude goes to my niece, Robin Little, who helped me with research.
My thanks go out to Sandra Bogart Johnston, my editor, for all her work, but most of all for her suggesting I set my new Dear Canada book in Alberta and include the Frank Slide.
As always, my deep gratitude goes to my sister Pat, who not only proofreads what I write, but tells me bits I should change or delete. She also persuades me to keep going every time I threaten to quit.
Pat also came with me on a pilgrimage to Frank, where I met Monica Field, the director of the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. Monica read the manuscript and answered innumerable questions without complaining. Thanks to Monica and all the others in Frank and at the Centre who were welcoming and generous with information.
The staff at the Guelph Public Library and those at the CNIB Library also found answers to my many questions and supplied me with helpful books.
As usual, I owe deep gratitude, even though it is sometimes grudging, to Barbara Hehner, who spots my many grievous errors and points them out. I long to argue, but she is always right.
I wish to thank Patsy Aldana and everyone else involved in my being given the Matt Cohen Award. The money paid for our trip to Frank and vastly enriched Abby’s sense of place — she was not planning to mention weather until I felt the wind at Frank almost blow me over. Also, even though my vision is very limited, I gazed up at Turtle Mountain and felt its menace and beauty in a way no book had fully conveyed.
I found information on the Internet about Frank, but the two sources I turned to most often were: “The Frank Slide,” by Frank Anderson, in Triumph and Tragedy in the Crowsnest Pass, ed. by Diana Wilson; and Frank Slide by J. William Kerr.
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Abby Roberts is a fictional character created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.
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Copyright © 2014 by Jean Little.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Little, Jean, 1932-, author
All fall down : the landslide diary of Abby Roberts / by Jean Little.
(Dear Canada)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4431-1919-1 (bound).--ISBN 978-1-4431-2897-1 (html)
1. Landslides--Alberta--Frank--Juvenile fiction. I. Title. II. Series: Dear Canada
PS8523.I77A64 2014 jC813’.54 C2013-905323-9
C2013-905324-7
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First eBook edition: January 2014
Books in the Dear Canada Series
Alone in an Untamed Land, The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge by Maxine Trottier
Banished from Our Home, The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard by Sharon Stewart
Blood Upon Our Land, The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier by Maxine Trottier
Brothers Far from Home, The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates by Jean Little
A Christmas to Remember, Tales of Comfort and Joy
A Country of Our Own, The Confederation Diary of Rosie Dunn by Karleen Bradford
Days of Toil and Tears, The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford by Sarah Ellis
The Death of My Country, The Plains of Abraham Diary of Geneviève Aubuchon by Maxine Trottier
A Desperate Road to Freedom, The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson by Karleen Bradford
Exiles from the War, The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss by Jean Little
Footsteps in the Snow, The Red River Diary of Isobel Scott by Carol Matas
Hoping for Home, Stories of Arrival
If I Die Before I Wake, The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor by Jean Little
Not a Nickel to Spare, The Great Depression Diary of Sally Cohen by Perry Nodelman
An Ocean Apart, The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-ling by Gillian Chan
Orphan at My Door, The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope by Jean Little
Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz by Carol Matas
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea, The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall by Sarah Ellis
Prisoners in the Promised Land, The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
A Rebel’s Daughter, The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson by Janet Lunn
A Ribbon of Shining Steel, The Railway Diary of Kate Cameron by Julie Lawson
A Sea of Sorrows, The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary by Norah McClintock
A Season for Miracles, Twelve Tales of Christmas
That Fatal Night, The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton by Sarah Ellis
Torn Apart, The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi by Susan Aihoshi
To Stand On My Own, The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson by
Barbara Haworth-Attard
A Trail of Broken Dreams, The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard
No Safe Harbour, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn by Julie Lawson
Turned Away, The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein by Carol Matas
Where the River Takes Me, The Hudson’s Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair by Julie Lawson
Whispers of War, The War of 1812 Diary of Susannah Merritt by Kit Pearson
Winter of Peril, The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge by Jan Andrews
With Nothing But Our Courage, The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald by Karleen Bradford
Go to www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada for information on the Dear Canada series — see inside the books, read an excerpt or a review, post a review, and more.
