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A couple of my friends with Aspie sons recommended this and I can see why. This is the story about being autistic I was hoping someone would write.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Released April 15, 2010.

In this small novel, Erskine has combined the tragedy of a school shooting with the unique voice of Asperger’s syndrome.  Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has been killed in a school shooting along with others.  As Caitlin struggles to understand the emotions around her and the feelings she herself has, she has to do it for the first time without her brother helping her.  She tries to do it without flapping her hands, without burying herself in her father’s sweater, but she does retreat to her safe places like under the dresser in Devon’s room.  Her world is black and white, just like her award-winning drawings, color only confuses things.  But as the days go by, Caitlin begins to connect with other people in new ways and perhaps through her own literal understanding of things she just might find closure and help others find it too.

I don’t feel that I can encapsulate this book in a paragraph.  It is so much larger than I can describe, so much more profound and uplifting.  Erskine has taken two ideas that seem very divergent and created something amazing from them.  The two become more vital and important joined into a single book than they would have been separately.  Caitlin’s own grief is explored in such a literal and detached way that it becomes even more painful to witness.  Her inability to speak her emotions hands them over to the reader to feel for her.  We all become a part of her syndrome and feel it to our bones.

Through the lens of Caitlin readers also get to witness the grief of others.  Get to wince when Caitlin puts something too bluntly.  Cry when she is unable to understand.  Rejoice when connection is made, no matter how small.  Through Caitlin we get to see difference as a sliding scale that we too fit on somewhere.

This is a book about one family, one tragedy, one girl, but it reaches far beyond that.  It is a book about surviving, about scrambling for connections, about living life in color.  It is about fear, about being alone, and about reaching out despite how very hard it is.

I think we are going to hear a lot about this book with its large scope of ideas offered in a small package through the eyes of a brilliant girl.  I hope we do hear a lot about it.  It should be read in classrooms, discussed and embraced. 

Beautifully written, this book has the power to unite.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy provided by Philomel.

Only one more year as a teenager! I can't believe it.The coming year holds many momentous events: graduation from high school, getting a driver's license (hopefully), getting a job (hopefully), starting college classes (hopefully). You will need God's wisdom and direction for your life more than you ever have!My birthday wish for you is that you will become a man of the Word, and a man of

Rainmom is an assistant professor of religious studies and a mom of two children, of whom the elder has autism. When I went to college with her, I got to enjoy her stunning soprano voice in productions of La Boheme and The Marriage of Figaro. Now, I read her thoughtful, insightful blog about raising a child with autism, and though I don't often comment, I take courage and wisdom from it.

My daughter's challenges are different from her son's, but there is definitely overlap in what we deal with as parents. When Rainmom wrote, "The Ohio House of Representatives has voted that insurance companies cannot decline to cover expenses related to autism and diabetes" (Little Victories), I realized that I had better find out where Washington State stood in that matter. I found the Autism Society of Washington (where you can find explanations for the wide range of diagnoses from "classic" autism to Pervasive Developmental Disorder).

We're still waiting for appointments to have our daughter assessed this spring. It's possible that she'll get a diagnosis that will help her obtain the services she needs, but it's also possible that like my youngest brother, she will be classified an "enigma."

I want Lucia to get the help she needs. I want her to have friends who accept her, quirks and all. It's very painful to see her run up to children, eager to be friends, and watch them shrink away from her into their parents. I understand why they do that, and I certainly don't like it when anyone invades my personal space. Still, I internally grumble, "Where are all those exuberant, extroverted kids when I need them? They're allegedly supposed to be in the majority."

All content (unless otherwise noted) is copyrighted by Farida Dowler and may not be reproduced in any form except for short passages with proper attribution.

And no, sadly,  I don't mean these guys:



I haven't blogged much lately.  If you're a past reader of In Search of Giants, you know I don't like long posts, so let's break this down:

Kisses to Trish and Ello for lending me me ARCs of FIRE and of CATCHING FIRE.  Yes, Ell, I still have yours.   See what else I've read at Goodreads.com.

Fringe, Glee, Bones, Criminal Minds, House, How I Met Your Mother.  This is important sh*t, yo.

Papa Rooster got a new lens for his camera!Blondechick16 survived camp, though she was one of the few who never saw a tick on themselves. She froze each night and woke up soaked each morning, since the tent was too small to stay away from the walls. But she ran, hiked, biked, canoed, prepared her own meals and learned a few things about herself and others.And we finally met Bantam18's

Thank you to http://bruaa-editora.blogspot.com/

Have you ever read the first couple of pages of a sequel, smiled to yourself and felt like you had come home again? Well, when I cracked open Al Capone Shines My Shoes I was immediately transported back to Choldenko's world of Alcatraz and into the Flannagan's apartment.

We pick up right where we last let off. Natalie is getting ready to head into San Fransisco to go to the Esther P. Marinoff School. Moose knows that one of the only reasons that she is going is that he asks inmate #85 (also known as Al Capone) to help him get her in. Moose is still confused as to why #85 would help him. Moose has been thinking about this when he heads over to Annie's place. When he gets there, Annie is looking peculiar, and she tells Moose that she got his laundry...and that there was a note in the pocket of his shirt. The note simply says, Your turn. By the way, the con who does the Flannagan's laundry is #85. What can Capone mean?

As if Moose didn't have enough to worry about, Piper is acting out, Mr. Flannagan gets put on probation, Scout seems to be eyeing up Piper, Jimmy is mad at Moose, and staying out of Darby's way is getting harder and harder. Even baseball, which used to make Moose feel better, is getting all political with Annie refusing to play with Moose until he tells about the note in his laundry. Moose is so stressed he is breaking out in hives and itching to beat the band.

Gennifer Choldenko is in her element in this story. It's so masterfully told that it seems effortless and completely believable. The cast of characters from children to adults are spot on and coexist in such a way that readers will feel like they know each and every one of them. Moose's growing pains are palpable, and his need to please will have you reading through your fingers, after-school-special-style. Simply delightful, fans of Al Capone Does My Shirt will be pleased, and new readers can easily pick up the plot and will enjoy this story as well.

Bantam18 surprised us all by announcing, a few weeks ago, that there was a girl.Now, B18 has had his share of social difficulties, due to his autism. He's so high-functioning that many adults don't pick up on it right away, but kids always do. So this year at a new school, he's mostly been eating lunch alone. He doesn't mind. He reads, or he does homework.But last quarter, a girl began

Last week when I flew to the West Coast I picked out the YA novel Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork as one of my designated "plane reads" for the six-hour flight. Or, so I thought before making the mistake of cracking it open the... Read the rest of this post

Another year, another World Autism Awareness Day. Quite coincidentally, I just watched Autism: the Musical, which had me crying about three-fourths of the show and wanting to punch someone in the snoot the other one-fourth. Which is a fairly reasonable breakdown of what it's like to have an autistic child, keeping in mind that some percentage of those tears are of pride and joy.

For those who haven't seen it, it's a documentary about a group of autistic kids and their parents who put on a show in the old barn! Seriously, it's really touching. There are kids from all levels of the spectrum, from those with virtually no speech to those who can never stop talking. It really gives a sense of what it's like to be a parent to one of these kids, but I was impressed at how well it also gave a sense of what it's like to be one of these kids. Though I am still not buying the facilitated communication.

I really wish they had included the entire musical on the DVD. How hard would that have been?

The Joint Library of Fanwood and Scotch Plains received a grant from INFOLINK to make a video and website/resource center for information about serving patrons with autism. The twenty minute video is viewable online on their website and also as a two parter on YouTube (1, 2). If you have a hundred people within your library building, there is a high statistical liklihood that one of them will have Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

There is something about the first summer vacation of my son's life that puts autism in the forefront of my mind. Day after day of unstructured time... utter bliss for some kids, utter torture for an autistic kid. And his parents.

Schedules, clocks, breaking everything down into controllable-feeling chunks of time... these are the days of our lives.

Note: The only place I've been able to find this book for sale online is Barnes and Noble.


It's Time by Judith Mammay. Illustrated by Todd Fargo. Turtle Books, 2007 (978-0-944727-20-1) $9.95 pb

It's Time follows a school day in the life of Tommy, an autistic boy "mainstreamed" in a regular classroom. Tommy has a hard time when people touch him, it's too noisy, or the routine gets changed, and sometimes that leads to screaming and tantrums. But Tommy doesn't want to scare the other kids in his class, so he is doing his best to keep calm and use his words.

It's Time stands out amongst most other autism books for being from the autistic child's perspective, and Mammay does a nice job of showing how hard Tommy is working not to melt down and demonstrating the tools he uses, like asking "what will happen?" when there's a scary change in routine. The sometimes negative responses of the other children in the class are also depicted; they are reminded by their teacher that "it is Tommy's autism that makes him do this" and encouraged to help him by being quieter when it's too noisy for him.

An artificially high note at the end of the story is a bit jarring--"After that, whenever there was a change, Tommy did better using his words"--but my main problem with this book is the pen & ink and watercolor illustrations, which are unattractive , stilted and oddly proportioned, not maintaining much character consistency from page to page. Insets of a mouse at the bottom of the pages, intended to demonstrate what Tommy is feeling inside, just come off as gimmicky since they basically show the same emotions already shown in the illustrations. Perhaps they would have seemed to have more kid-appeal to me if they were more attractively drawn.

It's Time may be of interest to autistic kids, but its main audience will probably be classrooms like Tommy's, that need some understanding of an autistic child's needs. I actually think the story is inherently interesting enough to have a more general appeal, if the book was redesigned and reillustrated. (6-10)

Tacos Anyone?/Alguien Quiere Tacos? by Marvie Ellie. Illustrated by Jenny Loehr. Speech Kids, 2005 (978-933319-02-5) $16.95

Thomas is sad because his little brother Michael, who has autism, doesn't like to play with him. But after seeing Michael work with his therapist, Thomas understands better what Michael enjoys and happily "makes tacos" by rolling him in sofa cushions. "It was the first time Michael and I had played together in a long time." A final illustration shows the two boys smiling on the cushions together, about to play with one of the wooden peg puzzles Michael likes.

Narrated by Thomas (with text in both Spanish and English,) this story describes a lot of the activities occupational therapists use with children with autism and sensory needs: learning sign language, bouncing on balls, blowing whistles, and so on. Its obvious audience is brothers and sisters of autistic kids, and they may find it helps them think of ways to relate to their challenging siblings. I really like the happiness and promise of the ending, but the rest of the story might be a little dry to appeal to a more general audience; it could also use some notes for readers who aren't familiar with these activities and might wonder what they're all about.

Unsophisticated illustrations have strongly defined features and lots of crayon or colored pencil shading; it's not a style I find very attractive, but again, I like the enthusiasm depicted, as Michael eagerly says "Tado!" with an enormous smile. (5-8)

My goal is to post more often, and I thought of posting earlier in the week, but of course, you can see how THAT went...so now that it has been a full week, I'm doing it first thing in the morning to be sure it gets done.

1. I didn't get to play, but I rode around with my husband and six-year old grandson in a Father's Day golf tournament last Saturday. O really enjoyed it and they came in third (out of four). He was the youngest kid there by four years. Now I am waiting for them to have a adult-kid tournament I can play in. O probably won't be as happy with that, though, because I won't get as many pars as his papa and he did.
2. I have decided to try a new way (for me) of revising. I have been having trouble jumping from my first draft and finding what I want, then putting it into my revision draft, so I shrunk the whole story, put it into columns, and now will cut it apart and rearrange it. I have read about this several times, but most recently on Kate Messner's blog.

3. I have been busy with marketing activities this week, too. Had good news from the local paper and a national magazine, who are going to do reviews of KNOWING JOSEPH between now and September. Also I have followed up on a few suggestions that Cynthia Lord has given me about bookstores that deal with only books about special needs, among other things. Thanks, Cindy. In addition, I have connected to Joanna Keating-Velasco and Julie Shore to discuss marketing strategies for books about autism...both of them have excellent books about autism that have come out recently.

4. There are a couple of rhyming poetry contests going on right now...one over at Dori Chaconis's blog about cheese, and another at Kay Pluta's blog about rabbits. Would LOVE the prizes of both, but first I need to write the poems.

5. Just found out that my daughter-in-law and two grandkids will be coming next Thursday for a week. They are here for the summer from Germany, but spending most of their time in Georgia...my son could not make the trip...he is in Iraq.

Hope you all have a good week.

Summer is definitely here in Florida...in the 90's daily, with little or no rain...and supposedly the 'rainy season' begins in May. Nice to be warm, though...sometimes I have to go outside to warm up, with all the air conditioning down here...don't dare to go into a store or restaurant without a sweater.

Recently I attended the WALK FOR AUTISM in Orlando as a vendor. It was fun. I enjoyed talking to all the people who stopped by, handed out a bunch of promotional materials, and even sold a few books.













I have moved forward with my writing, too...got a couple more chapters revised in my WIP, and hope to have it completed by the end of June. Other than that, and some promoting...have been working with my cousin, who is going to make a presentation on KJ to a school she used to work at as a librarian in Vermont, and doing some emailing, etc...I have been staying busy with day-to-day stuff. Am looking forward to having my grandson for five days next week, and to my other two visiting from Germany later in the summer.

Knowing Joseph is an engrossing, touching book about a young boy trying to deal with his 6-year old autistic brother.


For 10-year old Brian, living with his brother Joseph isn't easy. Joseph doesn't play with other children, screams when something bothers him, and constantly needs special attention. To make matters worse, Mom and Dad are so preoccupied with Joseph's ups and downs that they hardly have the time to pay attention to Brian, which isn't fair.


Yet Brian tries to do what's best and always tries to make Joseph comfortable and to protect him from the school bullies. But does he really know Joseph?
Then one day at the beach, during a family camping trip, Brian meets an older boy who enlightens him about autism. He not only opens a whole new window of knowledge for Brian, but for other children as well. As a result, Brian and Joseph become closer than ever.


Later, back at school, the children are given an assignment. They must work in groups and make a presentation on their chosen subject: children with disabilities. To Brian's chagrin, the teacher announces that the class' bully must be part of their group. As the children make their presentations, it becomes obvious that the class bully has some special needs as well, not like those of Joseph, the boy he had been bullying all along.


Knowing Joseph is a must read for children ages 9 and up. In an engaging style, Mammay teaches the reader what autism is all about, especially how to treat children who have this disability. She does this by presenting the characters and the story, not by preaching, which is why this novel will be enjoyed by middle readers. The plot is interesting and compelling. The dialogue, characters and plot appealing to young readers. Ultimately, it is a book that not only informs, but one that teaches the true meaning of kindness and compassion.

For more information about the author and the book, visit Judith Mammay's website

I'm quoting this, because it really says it all:

"I am pleased to inform you that this afternoon the NYU Child Study
Center announced that they will be ending the "Ransom Notes" ad
campaign in response to widespread public pressure from the disability
community. You can read that announcement here. The thousands of
people with disabilities, family members, professionals and others who
have written, called, e-mailed and signed our petition have been
heard. Today is a historic day for the disability community.
Furthermore, having spoken directly with Dr. Harold Koplewicz,
Director of the NYU Child Study Center, I have obtained a commitment
to pursue real dialogue in the creation of any further ad campaign
depicting individuals with disabilities. We applaud the NYU Child
Study Center for hearing the voice of the disability community and
withdrawing the "Ransom Notes" ad campaign.

Twenty-two disability rights organizations came together to ensure the
withdrawal of this advertising campaign. Our response to this campaign
stretched continents, with e-mails, letters and phone calls coming
from as far away as Israel, Britain and Australia. The disability
community acted with a unity and decisiveness that has rarely been
heard before and we are seeing the results of our strength today. Our
success sends an inescapable message: if you wish to depict people
with disabilities, you must consult us and seek our approval. Anything
less will guarantee that we will make our voices heard. We are willing
to help anyone and any group that seeks to raise awareness of
disability issues, but those efforts must be done with us, not against
us. This is a victory for inclusion, for respect and for the strength
and unity of people with disabilities across the world. It is that
message that has carried the day in our successful response to this
campaign. Furthermore, we intend to build on this progress, not only
by continuing a dialogue with the NYU Child Study Center and using
this momentum to ensure self-advocate representation at other
institutions as well, but also by building on the broad and powerful
alliance that secured the withdrawal of these ads in the first place.
We are strongest when we stand together, as a community, as a culture
and as a people.

Thank you to all of you who have made this victory possible. Remember:
"Nothing About Us, Without Us!"

Regards,
Ari Ne'eman
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, President
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
[email protected]"

Guess I'll stick with the plan and list five for Friday, although not much has been going on.

1.The weather is finally 'cool' in Florida...down in the forties last night, and only into the sixties today. Very nice for outside activities during the day. I know that is nothing like much of the rest of the country has, but for me, who is cold if it goes below 80, it is cold enough.

2. I have scrapped several chapters of my WIP and am rewriting a whole section of the book. I think it is going well, and will test it out on my crit group in a few days.

3. I have been enjoying the Robert's Snow Cure for Cancer artist interviews on several websites. Check out the artists' snowflakes for the upcoming auction.

4. Plans for the Space Coast Writers' Guild annual Pen-to-Print V conference are progressing nicely. This week I have been following up with the agents, editors and authors who will be presenting to take care of any final details. I have enjoyed setting the conference up with so many great presenters.

5. I started my Christmas shopping today by ordering a magazine subscription for my grandson with autism. He really loves non-fiction, so the Kids Discover magazine seemed like the perfect gift for a kid who doesn't really like or use many things. Am hoping I can find a good magazine for my 12-year old grandson, too. Any suggestions?

Have been working on the marketing over the last few days, sending emails with my press release to a number of Autism Societies across the country, and generating an address labels page for others. It's amazing how many there are; I am up to only page six of more than twenty pages in a google search. I figure if I do ten a day, I might finish in a month or two.

The good thing is that I have had a few responses, too, and have sent out a few books for review.

In addition, I have joined some listserves and introduced myself, which has generated a good deal of traffic on my website.

And from one of the listserves, I received the inspiration to write an article about grandparenting a child with autism, in response to a question asked about how to do that. So I have started working on that.

Then, I was reading my new SCBWI Bulletin yesterday, and found a publisher looking for books with the same criteria as the first one I wrote, which does not yet have a home...so of course, I sat right down and submitted it.

The weather here is warm, windy and wet. Barry is passing through...don't know the name of the first storm...I seemed to have missed that one. But the rain is what we need, so welcome, Barry.

So for the last few days, I have been looking at newspapers and trying to develop a list of places to send the press release my publisher sent. Problem is, I can find plenty of places, but it takes SOOO long, because I always find something I just HAVE to read on each page... I'm getting there, though. Have sent out a few by email where there was no addresses, and have started a labels sheet for other addresses.

And while I was doing that, I decided to check the contents of my marketing folder and came across Marti Leimbach's website and blog...she wrote Daniel Isn't Talking about her experience of discovering her son had autism and all that went with it. I enjoyed reading her blog, including a post about the difficulty of attending church when one has a child with autism. Sounds familiar...have heard similar stories from my daughter-in-law and son, too. It is a difficult thing to do. In fact, one minister told my son he and his family were an inspiration to other parishioners...because of all they have to go through to attend church with M. (Must say it is not as difficult as it used to be, now that he is getting older.) Anyway, it was interesting reading.

Hope you all had a good holiday!