Maryland high school student Ava Perlin has always looked out for her younger sister Millie.
“Because she has Down syndrome, it’s hard for younger kids to understand,” she says. “Millie’s likely the first person they’ve ever seen that looks different than them and can act differently than them too. So, it was just always important to me that she was treated like other kids, had good friends and people were kind to her because she’s the kindest soul.”
Ava knew that educating children about Down syndrome was the best way to ensure that Millie and others with Down syndrome would be received with kindness and inclusion. So, when her teacher assigned a “passion project” at school, she knew her project would focus on Millie.
“I talked with my teacher and we came up with a bunch of different ideas, and we eventually landed on a book that could reach other people, [within and outside] our community,” Ava recalls. “I completed the project and turned it in, and my teacher was so supportive and the community response was so supportive that I decided that I wanted to try to publish it.”
With editorial assistance from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Ava’s book “One in a Millieon” (a pun on Millie’s name) was published on June 1. The 37-page picture book is geared toward elementary school-aged children and especially those with siblings with disabilities.
“When I was writing this book, I thought of some themes that I really wanted to highlight. One of them was acknowledging and accepting curiosity and confusion. I wanted other siblings to know that it’s okay to be embarrassed sometimes. The book is about Millie singing, and that is very much a true story. Millie likes to sing very loudly and a lot of the time, we are the center of attention. It’s okay to be embarrassed or confused or even not like that [behavior] sometimes. But above all else, we have to protect and inspire kindness amongst other people.”
Though it’s possible that Ava might follow up “One in a Millieon” with a book for older readers, she doesn’t imagine a career as a writer.
“I’m very interested in STEM [science tech, engineering and mathematics], says Ava. “I plan to study engineering. This past semester, I was able to work as an intern at [The] Johns Hopkins [University], where I worked in a lab that studied genetics and engineering. So, not only has Millie sparked my interest in writing, she’s sparked a professional interest as well. I plan to go into a field that kind of merges genetics and engineering, because I’m fascinated by the science of Down syndrome, not just the social aspect of it.”
