Beautiful Eyes

Beautiful Eyes is a story that takes place in the early 1960s in an apartment complex in Bellerose, Queens, New York. Two next-door neighbors, twelve-year-old Dougie, a boy with a genetic condition called Down syndrome, and eight-year-old Lucy become best friends and spend an entire summer together. Sitting on the porch of their apartment complex becomes the highlight of their summer until one very horrible day when Dougie becomes the target of two boys in his complex. They call him a retard and make fun of his eyes. Though Dougie does have Down syndrome, Lucy thought he had the most beautiful eyes in the world and never realized that he was different than most children his age. Lucy is confused and angry at how the two boys had treated her very best friend. With the help of her mother, Lucy learns a life lesson about diversity.