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Reality Boy
by A. S. KingIn this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child "star" struggling to break free of his anger.Gerald Faust started feeling angry even before his mother invited a reality TV crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he's still haunted by his rage-filled youth--which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle--and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school. No one cares that Gerald has tried to learn to control himself; they're all just waiting for him to snap. And he's starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that...until he chooses to create possibilities for himself that he never knew he deserved.
Realizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success
by Ann PalmerRealizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome is both a practical and a personal account of one ASD student's successful experience of going to college. This accessible book focuses on how to get there and stay there: deciding to go, how to get in and how to get the most out of it. Ann Palmer advises parents and professionals how to prepare the student for the transition from school and home life to a new environment and educational challenge, and how to support them through potential problems such as academic pressure, living away from home, social integration and appropriate levels of participation in college. She offers helpful strategies that will encourage and inspire parents and students and show that college can be a suitable option for students with an autism spectrum disorder, as well as the basis for a successful independent life later. This book is essential reading for any parent considering college as an option for their child, disability service providers in colleges and for ASD students themselves.
Realizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success
by Ann PalmerRealizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome is both a practical and a personal account of one ASD student's successful experience of going to college.This accessible book focuses on how to get there and stay there: deciding to go, how to get in and how to get the most out of it. Ann Palmer advises parents and professionals how to prepare the student for the transition from school and home life to a new environment and educational challenge, and how to support them through potential problems such as academic pressure, living away from home, social integration and appropriate levels of participation in college. She offers helpful strategies that will encourage and inspire parents and students and show that college can be a suitable option for students with an autism spectrum disorder, as well as the basis for a successful independent life later.This book is essential reading for any parent considering college as an option for their child, disability service providers in colleges and for ASD students themselves.
Really Bad Dad Jokes: More Than 400 Unbearable Groan-Inducing Wisecracks Sure to Make You the Funniest Father With a Quip
by Joe Kerz<p>Bring out the groans with Really Bad Dad Jokes! <p>Do you enjoy making puns about the most random things you can think of? Do you enjoy inducing embarrassment and eye-rolling from your family? Do you often crack yourself up with your own jokes? Then Really Bad Dad Jokes is for you! <p>In this follow-up to Dad Jokes, you’ll find a multitude of the ultimate dad jokes, such as: <p> <li>If prisoners could take their own mug shots, would they be called cellfies? <li>Dogs can’t operate MRI machines. . . but catscan! <li>What did one plate say to the other? “Lunch is on me!” <li>What does a martial arts expert drink? Kara-tea. And many, many more! <p> <p>With over 400 unbearably funny puns, quips, and one-liners, Really Bad Dad Jokes is your secret to mastering one of the most groanworthy arts of being a dad.</p>
Really Good, Actually: A Novel
by Monica Heisey“Hilarious, heart-warming, wise.” — Paula HawkinsA hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica HeiseyMaggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.
Really Good, Actually: A Novel
by Monica Heisey“Very funny—think Bridget Jones meets ‘Broad City’. . . . Heisey is making a career out of guiding characters through the kinds of crises we can laugh at and sympathize with all at once, while upending enough rom-com tropes to keep things interesting.” – Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times“One of the most hilarious and barbed accounts of unexpectedly starting over I’ve ever read. . . . If you’ve ever felt lost and hoped that it was leading towards wisdom, Really Good, Actually is your novel.” — Stephanie Danler, New York Times bestselling author of SweetbitterRecommended by Los Angeles Times • Washington Post • GQ • Elle • Good Morning America • Guardian • The Times • E! News Online • The Globe and Mail • Toronto Star • The Week • Shondaland • and many more!A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica HeiseyMaggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.“A prime example of how a storyteller's voice can pull you right in and keep you clinging to every sentence. . . . This is a book I will give to my closest girlfriends and say, ‘You have to read this.’” — Zibby Owens, GoodMorningAmerica.com“Tremendously funny and thoughtful.” –GQ
Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me: 12-copy Counter Display
by Cynthia L. CopelandCelebrate the wisdom of the sandbox—the witty, innocent, surprising, and yet completely sensible things that kids say and do. A little book with a big heart, Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me combines deceptively simple life lessons with engaging images that together not only offer insight but inspire joy. Kids see the world in a way that adults don’t, so glimpsing life through a child’s eyes offers a fresh—and often funny—perspective. Kids encourage us to be open-minded: There are a lot of different ways to get to the top of the jungle gym. To be fearless: Jump right in or you may change your mind about swimming. To aim high: Even babies grab for things just beyond their reach. To be kind to yourself: Sometimes you need a Saturday on a Wednesday. To follow your own path: If the flowers you draw don’t look like anyone else’s, that’s good. And to stay young: Go barefoot! Tune in to the chatter on the playground, and remind yourself how simple everything really is.
Really Seeing Children
by Deb CurtisDeb Curtis has cultivated a reflective teaching practice devoted to really seeing children. Through her collection of stories and photographs, learn to suspend your adult agenda to really see children’s perspectives and the amazing ways they experience the world.
Really Truly (A Pumpkin Falls Mystery)
by Heather Vogel FrederickThe Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes grapple with pirates and mermaids in the third cozy mystery of the Edgar Award–nominated middle grade series from the author of the beloved Mother-Daughter Book Club books.Truly Lovejoy is excited for the perfect summer in Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire: swim practice outside, working at the bookstore, one-on-one time with her mom, and best of all, time with the dreamy RJ Calhoun who may just like Truly back. But the idyllic falls apart when she&’s sent off to mermaid academy—sparkly tail and all. Luckily, a mystery is never too far behind the Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes, and synchronized swimming turns into a hunt for a sunken ship and an investigation of the founding of Pumpkin Falls…which may have involved more pirates than originally thought. And as the Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes get closer to the heart of the mystery and Truly gets closer to her mermaid debut, she may just learn to come out of her shell.
The Really Useful Grandparents’ Book
by Eleo Gordon Tony LaceyFlaps: Are you eager to spend time with your grandchildren, but anxious about what to do with them? The Really Useful Grandparents’ Bookis the perfect solution. It’s a book that you can share with your grandchildren to discover the activities that will bring you closer and entertain you both all afternoon. Packed with information on the kinds of things a child will want to learn about from the world’s most dangerous animals to Mount Everest, from Alexander the Great to Henry VIII, this book will make learning fun and engaging. Is your grandchild more interested in hands-on activities? Learn how to play games and pick up hobbies that will have them all tuckered out by the time their mom comes to pick them up at night. Maybe you’ll plant a garden or play rugby, learn how to cross-stitch or play chess, write a rap or a poem, make a curiosity box, build a campfire, create a special playlist on your iPod and many other fun things which will truly enhance your relationship with your grandchild and leave both of you the richer for it. TONY LACEY has worked as an editor at Penguin for thirty years. He has two grown-up children, as well as two granddaughters and a grandson. ELEO GORDON also works in publishing. Her parents lived abroad and as a child she spent most of her holidays with her grandparents. Her grandfather was American and her grandmother Cuban and they met in New York and later settled in England. Back Cover: All grandparents are eager to spend meaningful time with their grandchildren but so often they are held back by the generation gap and aren't sure what they can do together that will be fun for everyone. Now, grandparents can stop being anxious about planning special time with their grandchildren and get involved the way they've always wanted. Whether they're looking for an activity or some impressive trivia it's all right here in this book. Some of the great ideas include: Learning and performing card tricks Starting a stamp collection Making a scrapbook Camping out in the backyard Playing chess Making Origami Having a Treasure Hunt and Making pancakes or baking meringues The Really Useful Grandparents’ Bookincludes simple directions and illustrations for all these activities plus a lot more. And on top of all the games and projects, it includes fun and educational conversation-starters ranging from every possible natural disaster to the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece. This is the perfect book for any grandparent who knows just how special it is to bond with his or her grandchild and is looking for ways to enhance and improve that relationship for years to come.
The Realm of Last Chances
by Steve YarbroughIn a captivating departure from the Deep South setting of his previous fiction, Steve Yarbrough now gives us a richly nuanced portrait of a marriage being reinvented in a small town in the Northeast, in his most surprising and compelling novel yet.When Kristin Stevens loses her administrative job in California's university system, she and her husband, Cal, relocate to Massachusetts. Kristin takes a position at a smaller, less prestigious college outside Boston and promptly becomes entangled in its delicate, overheated politics. Cal, whose musical talent is nothing more than a consuming avocation, spends his days alone, fixing up their new home. And as they settle into their early fifties, the two seem to exist in separate spheres entirely. At the same time, their younger neighbor Matt Drinnan watches his ex-wife take up with another man in his hometown, with only himself to blame. He and Kristin, both facing an acute sense of isolation, gravitate toward each other, at first in hope of a platonic confidant but then, inevitably, of something more. The Realm of Last Chances provides us with a subtle, moving exploration of relationships, loneliness and our convoluted attempts to reach out to one another.
The Realms of Gold: A Novel
by Margaret DrabbleAn archaeologist struggles to unearth her own true passions in the &“richest, most absorbing novel&” by the author of The Dark Flood Rises (Joyce Carol Oates). Frances Wingate is one of England&’s most renowned archaeologists, having recently discovered a lost city in the Saharan desert. On the outside, she appears to have it all. But beneath the surface, the scientist deals with the demands of children and family—as well as a tumultuous, on-again, off-again romance with a married historian. It&’s only when Frances throws herself into her work that she discovers some surprising connections to others, in this novel about the search for meaning in life that is &“alive with ideas&” (Anatole Broyard, The New York Times).
Rear-View Mirrors
by Paul FleischmanSeventeen-year-old Olivia hasn't seen her father since she was eight months old. But when he summons her out of the blue, Olivia travels cross country to New Hampshire to meet him. That summer, she learns to adapt to rural life and to try to understand her reclusive father. The next summer, following high school graduation, she returns to recreate her father's seventy-mile annual bike ride - reflecting on her own personal journey to understand the true meaning of love and kinship.
The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart
by Margarita Montimore'Heartbreakingly poignant and joyful' Guardian WHAT IF YOU LIVED YOUR LIFE IN THE WRONG ORDER? Brooklyn, 1982. Oona Lockhart is about to celebrate her 19th birthday and ring in the New Year. But at the stroke of midnight, she finds herself in her fifty-one-year-old body, thirty-two years into the future. Oona learns that on every birthday she will leap into a different age at random. Still a young woman on the inside, but ever changing on the outside, who will she be next year? Wealthy philanthropist? Nineties Club Kid? World traveller? Wife to a man she's never met? As the years pass, Oona must learn to navigate a life that's out of order - but is it broken?Surprising, magical and poignant, Margarita Montimore's debut is an uplifting joyride through an ever-changing world that shows us what it means to truly live for now.'A heartfelt novel' Kirkus 'Surprising and touching' Publishers Weekly ' A wonderful and exciting read about living in the moment' Woman's Way
The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart
by Margarita MontimoreTHE GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICKAMAZON EDITORS' 20 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR'With its countless epiphanies and surprises, Oona proves difficult to put down' USA Today'By turns tragic and triumphant, heartbreakingly poignant and joyful, this is ultimately an uplifting and redemptive read' Guardian___________OONA'S LIFE IS OUT OF ORDER Brooklyn, 1982. Oona Lockhart is about to celebrate her 19th birthday and ring in the New Year. But at the stroke of midnight, she finds herself in her fifty-one-year-old body, thirty-two years into the future.Every birthday, Oona leaps into a different year of her life at random. Still young on the inside, but ever changing on the outside, who will she be next year? Nineties Club Kid? World traveller? Wife to a man she's never met? As the years pass, Oona must learn to navigate a life that's out of order . . . but is it broken? Surprising, magical and poignant, Margarita Montimore's debut is an uplifting joyride through an ever-changing world that shows us what it means to truly live for now.'A heartfelt novel' Kirkus 'Surprising and touching' Publishers Weekly ' A wonderful and exciting read about living in the moment' Woman's Way
The Reason for Janey
by Nancy Hope WilsonPhilly’s life changes greatly when, after her parents' divorce, her mother takes in Janey, a retarded adult, to live with them. "I like to know the reasons for things,” says Philura Higley Mason. “When I know the reason for something, it fits. I can manage it.” She especially wants to know why Janey, a mentally retarded woman who moved in four months ago, fits into the family better than Dad, who moved out three years ago. After all, what makes a family a family? Last year, Philly won first prize at the fifth-grade science fair, so this year, superbrain Danny Stapleton is determined to outdo her. But Philly can’t even choose a topic. She’s wondering instead about Janey--that little-girl locket she wears, that mismatched pack of cards she carries, and that place she lived that makes Mom strangely angry: the Morrisville State School for the Mentally Retarded. And when Janey’s mother died, what happened to her father? As Philly uncovers Janey’s past, she unexpectedly collides with her own. Suddenly she must confront new truths about Dad, about Mom, and about herself. (She even makes some discoveries about Danny Stapleton.) The author of Bringing Nettie Back (also Macmillan U.S.A.) has artfully interwoven such complex issues as divorce, mental retardation, keeping secrets, and what it really means to be a family.
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice Of A Thirteen-year-old Boy With Autism
by David Mitchell Naoki Higashida Ka YoshidaYou've never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within. <p><p> Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: "Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?" "Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?" "Why don't you make eye contact when you're talking?" and "What's the reason you jump?" (Naoki's answer: "When I'm jumping, it's as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.") With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights--into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory--are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again. <p> In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki's words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. "It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship." This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they'd be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Naoki's book, in its beauty, truthfulness, and simplicity, is a gift to be shared.
Reason to Breathe: The Breathing Series (A Chandler Sisters Novel #1)
by Deborah RaneyPhylicia thought life was passing her by, but maybe this was love's plan all along. . .At twenty-nine, Phylicia Chandler put her life on hold to care for her dying mother with her sisters, Joanna and Britt. Now Mom is gone and their father stuns them all by running off with a woman young enough to be their sister. Life is moving forward all around her, but Phylicia feels stuck--until her father's protégé, Quinn Mitchell, presents the sisters with an intriguing business opportunity to purchase a trio of cottages just outside of Langhorne, Missouri. Joanna and Britt are convinced the three of them should launch a vacation rental venture, but Phylicia remains skeptical.To complicate matters, Quinn soon finds himself falling hard for Phylicia. But how can he pursue this beautiful, talented woman twelve years his junior when she's still reeling over her father's hasty engagement to a younger woman? Quinn is determined to give Phylicia her happily-ever-after. But first, he must help her come to terms with her discovery of long-held family secrets and persuade her that true love can transcend their differences.
A Reason to See You Again: A Novel
by Jami AttenbergA Most Anticipated Book from: New York Times * People* Associated Press * Time * Saturday Evening Post * Real Simple * Book Bub * Alta * Chicago TribuneFrom New York Times bestselling author Jami Attenberg comes a dazzling novel of family, following a troubled mother and her two daughters over forty years and through a swiftly changing American landscape as they seek lives they can fully claim as their own. The women of the Cohen family are in crisis. Triggered by the death of their patriarch, Rudy, the glue that held them all together, everyone’s lives soon take a dramatic turn.Shelly, the younger of the two Cohen sisters, runs off to the West Coast to immerse herself in the emerging (and lucrative) world of technology. Her sister, Nancy, gets married at the age of twenty-one to a traveling salesman with a shadowy lifestyle, while their mother, Frieda, hurls herself into a boozy, troubled existence in Miami, trying to forget the past even as it haunts her.But they each learn in different ways that running from the past can’t save you—and then must make life-altering decisions about what they want their family to be and what they need to move forward.Beginning in the 1970s and spanning forty years, A Reason to See You Again takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey through motherhood, the American workforce, the tech industry, the self-help movement, inherited trauma, the ever-evolving ways we communicate with one another, and the many unexpected forms that love can take.
The Reason You're Alive: A Novel
by Matthew QuickThe New York Times–bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook offers a timely novel featuring his most fascinating character yet, a Vietnam vet embarking on a quixotic crusade to track down his nemesis from the war. After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard—that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It may be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It may also help him to finally recover from his wife&’s untimely demise. As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and good-hearted American patriot fighting like hell to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn&’t always like or understand. Hanging in the balance are Granger&’s distant art-dealing son, Hank; his adoring seven-year-old granddaughter, Ella; and his best friend, Sue, a Vietnamese American who respects David&’s fearless sincerity. Through the controversial, wrenching, and wildly honest David Granger, Matthew Quick offers a no-nonsense but ultimately hopeful view of America&’s polarized psyche. By turns irascible and hilarious, insightful and inconvenient, David is a complex, wounded, honorable, and loving man. The Reason You&’re Alive examines how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us; it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in us all.
Reasonable Adjustments for Autistic Children: How to Make Their World Better
by Luke BeardonAutism acceptance has led to - at least, at surface level - an increased understanding of what autistic children need, and of what they find difficult to cope with. But is the world really making the kind of adjustments that would see your child truly thrive?In Reasonable Adjustments for Autistic Children acclaimed and much-loved author and expert Dr Luke Beardon sets out the full scope of what he sees as the essential adjustments we need to make to our homes, our schools and the wider world in order to allow our autistic young people to reach their full potential and be genuinely comfortable in each and every environment. From school uniform to train journeys and playdates, from dentists' surgeries to holiday resorts, Luke's book offers practical measures for adapting every environment or sensory situation. Absolutely essential reading for every parent of an autistic child, family member, caregiver, teacher or health and social care worker, this is a long-overdue book that has the potential to change the world for neurodiverse children, and for the children of generations to come.
Reasonable Adjustments for Autistic Children: How to Make Their World Better
by Luke BeardonAutism acceptance has led to - at least, at surface level - an increased understanding of what autistic children need, and of what they find difficult to cope with. But is the world really making the kind of adjustments that would see your child truly thrive?In Reasonable Adjustments for Autistic Children acclaimed and much-loved author and expert Dr Luke Beardon sets out the full scope of what he sees as the essential adjustments we need to make to our homes, our schools and the wider world in order to allow our autistic young people to reach their full potential and be genuinely comfortable in each and every environment. From school uniform to train journeys and playdates, from dentists' surgeries to holiday resorts, Luke's book offers practical measures for adapting every environment or sensory situation. Absolutely essential reading for every parent of an autistic child, family member, caregiver, teacher or health and social care worker, this is a long-overdue book that has the potential to change the world for neurodiverse children, and for the children of generations to come.
Reasonable People
by Caroline Hulse"I love Caroline Hulse's books. She has an amazing ability to take unlikeable characters and make me fall unexpectedly in love with them. Reasonable People is warm, thoughtful, clever - the sort of book you'll think about long after you've finished." BETH O'LEARY on Reasonable People'A nuanced and contemporary comedy of errors, like all of Caroline Hulse's books, Reasonable People hits the perfect sweet spot of funny, endearing and heartbreaking. A must-read for anyone with other human beings in their life.' CHARLOTTE RIXON, author of The One That Got Away.CantBeArsed8: Am I the villain for being furious my partner's father changed my daughter's pirate party into a princess party?REASONABLE PEOPLE is a sharp, funny and timely comedy-of-errors about a feuding family.After a kid's party faux-pas, mother Janine anonymously vents about her father-in-law's behaviour on internet forum Am I The Villain Here? When the community is invited to take sides the post goes viral, with mild-mannered Roy ending up in the national newspapers and sparking protests at his local library. REASONABLE PEOPLE explores how judging others reveals our deepest, most unreasonable selves - with Hulse's trademark heart, humour and humanity.
Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption
by Ralph James SavareseWatch an interview with DJ on CNNListen to Ralph Savarese's interview on NPR's "The Diane Rehm Show"Visit the book's website: www.reasonable-people.com"Why would someone adopt a badly abused, nonspeaking, six-year-old from foster care?" So the author was asked at the outset of his adoption-as-a-first-resort adventure. Part love story, part political manifesto about "living with conviction in a cynical time," the memoir traces the development of DJ, a boy written off as profoundly retarded and now, six years later, earning all "A's" at a regular school. Neither a typical saga of autism nor simply a challenge to expert opinion, Reasonable People illuminates the belated emergence of a self in language. And it does so using DJ's own words, expressed through the once discredited but now resurgent technique of facilitated communication. In this emotional page-turner, DJ reconnects with the sister from whom he was separated, begins to type independently, and explores his experience of disability, poverty, abandonment, and sexual abuse. "Try to remember my life," he says on his talking computer, and remember he does in the most extraordinarily perceptive and lyrical way.Asking difficult questions about the nature of family, the demise of social obligation, and the meaning of neurological difference, Savarese argues for a reasonable commitment to human possibility and caring.
Reasonable People: A Memoir Of Autism And Adoption
by Ralph James SavareseWatch an interview with DJ on CNN Listen to Ralph Savarese's interview on NPR's "The Diane Rehm Show" Visit the book's website: www. reasonable-people. com "Why would someone adopt a badly abused, nonspeaking, six-year-old from foster care?" So the author was asked at the outset of his adoption-as-a-first-resort adventure. Part love story, part political manifesto about "living with conviction in a cynical time," the memoir traces the development of DJ, a boy written off as profoundly retarded and now, six years later, earning all "A's" at a regular school. Neither a typical saga of autism nor simply a challenge to expert opinion, Reasonable People illuminates the belated emergence of a self in language. And it does so using DJ's own words, expressed through the once discredited but now resurgent technique of facilitated communication. In this emotional page-turner, DJ reconnects with the sister from whom he was separated, begins to type independently, and explores his experience of disability, poverty, abandonment, and sexual abuse. "Try to remember my life," he says on his talking computer, and remember he does in the most extraordinarily perceptive and lyrical way. Asking difficult questions about the nature of family, the demise of social obligation, and the meaning of neurological difference, Savarese argues for a reasonable commitment to human possibility and caring.