Opening a Floyd Cooper book is like re-opening the door to your childhood. The places, the people, and the situations all seem poignantly familiar. This is especially true of Be Good to Eddie Lee, a book illustrated by Cooper, a Tulsa native.

Familiar Places
Perhaps this book’s setting seems familiar because it is. “Growing up in Oklahoma, I had plenty of creeks to swim in and an uncle who owned a ranch,” notes Cooper. “Though I never rode professionally, I did put in some years falling from bucking broncos onto a ‘mattress’ of manure.”

Although Be Good to Eddie Lee doesn’t portray that pungent barnyard smell, it does take you back to summer days when there was time to enjoy fresh air while looking for frog eggs in the neighborhood pond. That’s exactly what Christy, JimBud, and Eddie Lee (the three children in the story) do, but they end up discovering more than just tadpoles in the shallow pool waters.

Familiar People
This book strikes another familiar chord because Eddie Lee was one of your classmates. Or perhaps he lived on your street or even went to your church. He was that child who looked different, acted different, or saw things differently. He was that child about whom your mom said, “Be good to Eddie Lee.”
 
Eddie Lee has Down’s Syndrome. He joyfully stomps through tall reeds, splashes pond water on anyone nearby, and won’t take no for an answer. He tags along when Christy and JimBud don’t want to be bothered. Some would label Eddie Lee annoying. JimBud labels him dummy.

Familiar Attitudes
Sound familiar? There will always be plenty of kids like JimBud. There will also always be kids like Eddie Lee. Yet what isn’t prevalent enough is the right perception about people who don’t meet society’s expectations.
 
Thankfully, Floyd Cooper conveys just the right blend of reality and sensitivity in this book’s illustrations. There is no sugar-coating the truth here, which means that both Eddie Lee and JimBud are portrayed honestly.
 
Floyd Cooper’s Attitude
What Christy and Eddie Lee discover at the pond could go a long way towards changing some wrong attitudes. But that’s to be expected, given Floyd Cooper’s reasons for working as an illustrator.

“I feel children are on the front line in improving society,” states Cooper. “This might sound a little heavy, but it’s true.”

“Illustrating children’s books is a very exciting thing to do because it gives you the chance to have an impact on the way the world will be in the future.”

Make Reading… Oklahoman
Floyd Cooper currently lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, but he often returns to Oklahoma. His family still lives on the farm his great-grandfather staked in a land run, so it is no surprise that Cooper has illustrated books that are quintessentially Oklahoman. The following volumes make Oklahomans proud that Floyd Cooper is one of their own:

•     I Have Heard of a Land, illustrated by Floyd Cooper and written by Joyce Carol Thomas, a Ponca City native.
•    Coming Home: from the life of Langston Hughes, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper.
•    Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, illustrated by Floyd Cooper and written by Joyce Carol Thomas.
•    Finally, for a book that is familiar, international, and worth sharing with your child, Cumbayah, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. In this book, Cooper has added some of his own original lyrics to a song that needs no translation.

Lori Williams is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about international adoption and the special needs child