{"id":142,"date":"2019-05-27T19:18:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T19:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ginabooks.com\/?page_id=142"},"modified":"2025-08-26T22:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T22:09:46","slug":"free-as-a-bird","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ginabooks.com\/index.php\/books\/free-as-a-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Free as a Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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* Governor General\u2019s Literary Award Finalist
* Canadian Library Association Finalist
* BC Book Prize Finalist
* IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities
* Snow Willow Awards Finalist
* VOYA Top Shelf Awards
* CCBC Best Books for Kids and Teens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born with Down Syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp comes from a time when being a developmentally disabled person could mean growing up behind locked doors and barred windows and being called names like “retard” and “moron.” When Ruby Jean’s caregiver and loving grandmother dies, her mother takes her to Woodlands School in New Westminster, British Columbia, and rarely visits.

As Ruby Jean herself says: “Can’t say why they called it a school\u2014a school’s a place you go for learnin an then after you get to go home. I never learnt much bout ledders and numbers, an I sure never got to go home.”

It’s here in an institution that opened in 1878 and was originally called the Provincial Lunatic Asylum that Ruby Jean learns to survive isolation, boredom, and every kind of abuse. Just when she can hardly remember if she’s ever been happy, she learns a lesson about patience and perseverance from an old crow.

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“The place is gloomy in the extreme, the windows high and unnecessarily barred … the patients being herded more like cattle than human beings.” – Commission of Enquiry Report of the Provincial Asylum for the Insane, 1878.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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“It was on account of me not being so smart that they left me in this place with locked meddal doors, windows with bars an so many sad kids.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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“I followed her down the hall with its polished green floors an matchin green walls. I turned an waved to everyone down at the day room. Just when I was bout to go through that locked meddal door for the last time I saw Millie. I waved but she dint wave back — nope, just watched me leave.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Reviews<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“Gina McMurchy-Barber has written a powerful novel \u2026.(She) introduces us to a truly inspiring heroine\u2026 Ruby Jean shows us the untapped potential of a child with Down syndrome\u2026.Readers will both laugh and cry as Ruby Jean experiences despair, abuse, the joy of learning, family life and homelessness.” Resource Links \u2013 Connecting Classrooms, Vol. 15, #2, Dec. 2009<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name\u2019s Ruby Jean Sharp an I growed up in Woodlands School. That wasn\u2019t a nice place for a liddle kid\u2014nope, not a nice place a\u2019tall. So begins the fictional story of Ruby Jean\u2019s life in an institution, Woodlands School, based in western Canada. Ruby Jean\u2019s distinctive voice clutches you. British Columbian author Gina McMurchy-Barber does a stellar job of injecting Ruby Jean into your soul. Read More …<\/a> Bloom — Parenting Kids With Difficulties, May 7, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In her new novel, Gina McMurchy-Barber writes about one of the bleaker facets of Canada\u2019s history: the institutional mistreatment of people with disabilities….Free as a Bird is worth the effort\u2026and offers a raw, rare glimpse into how Canada\u2019s most vulnerable citizens were treated only a short time ago.” Shannon Ozirny, <\/em>Quill & Quire, April 2010<\/strong>

\u201cAs soon as readers open Free as a Bird, they are immediately taken into the unique and fascinating mind of Ruby Jean Sharp, a developmentally disabled girl growing up in a world of injustice. McMurchy-Barber\u2026safely broaches the serious issues of abuse and misconduct for a young audience while also exploring and celebrating the beautiful mind of a very special person.\u201d Megan Lankford,<\/em> CM Volume XVI Number 13 November 27, 2009. Full Review<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* Governor General\u2019s Literary Award Finalist* Canadian Library Association Finalist* BC Book Prize Finalist* IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities* Snow Willow Awards Finalist* VOYA Top Shelf Awards* CCBC Best Books for Kids and Teens Born with Down Syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp comes from a time when being a developmentally disabled person could mean … <\/p>\n

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