Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick, is a novel told in words and images, telling the entwined story of a young deaf girl who longs for escape and a boy curious about his mysterious past. The alternating chapters between Rose and Ben forward the story in a moving and interesting way, and Deaf culture is respectfully introduced in such a way that will certainly spike interest among readers.

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

My Most Excellent Year is a young adult novel by Steve Kluger. It follows teenagers T.C., his brother Augie, and Alejandra, and is written in the form of diary entries, instant messages, and emails from them and other supporting characters.

My Most Excellent Year also features a very well-written and -rounded Deaf character named Hucky. Hucky is a six-year-old boy living in a residence for Deaf children after his mother abandoned him. Hucky is befriended by the three main characters, especially T.C.

Hucky is an excellent contrast to many deaf children in literature. He definitely stood out in comparison to the little boy in Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz, who is basically treated as a tragic, misunderstood character with little feelings of his own except what other characters lay onto him. Hucky, by contrast, definitely has his own personality, opinions, way of communicating, and outlook on life.

The little boy is allowed to grow over the course of the novel, along with the other three main characters. By the end of the novel Hucky is very different than he was at the start, and you can see him blossoming.

His communication "problems" are never actually a problem. The characters embrace learning American Sign Language, and there are some funny moments when they can't communicate properly or don't know the right signs. The novel even touches on the difference between ASL and British Sign Language through another character.

This is a really sweet novel that I think is a great example of the way d/Deaf/hard of hearing characters can be written so well. I really liked it and I hope you get the chance to pick it up, too.

With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child, Volume 2 by Keiko Tobe

With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child is a manga series, a type of graphic novel written in Japan. The author, Keiko Tobe, takes the experiences of several parents of children with autism in Japan, and consolidates them into the tale of Hikaru and his parents.

In the second volume of this series, Hikaru experiences the later elementary school years. He and his family must deal with several challenges including tragedy at his school. This volume seems to flow more easily than the first and contains a wealth of information about assisting autistic children at this age. The short essays at the back are a fascinating read, as usual.

George and Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore

(Reposted from Goodreads, January 7, 2009.)

I don't know anyone on the autism spectrum, but I picked up this book out of interest in the condition. I've always been interested in how the human brain works. Therefore I couldn't approach this book the way I think many of its readers probably are: as parents, or caregivers, or family members of a person with autism, looking for answers or maybe just another perspective. I can't say how useful the book would be to someone in that situation, though I'm inclined to say that I would have found information and a bit of comfort in the pages if I were.

Charlotte Moore is the single mother of three boys, two of which are autistic. Her youngest son is "neurotypical," ie, not autistic, and normally functioning. As a writer, she’s able to spend her days at home, and she provides her perspective on her sons growing up. She compares her eldest, George, to her middle child, Sam, who’s arguably the most limited of the pair, and she compares the both of them to her youngest, Jake. She provides a chronicle of their lives from birth to diagnosis all the way up to their current ages, with George poised on the brink of puberty.

The author does jump around a bit, which can be slightly confusing as we are introduced to the three children and their lives. It's not so much a chronological journey as it is a topical one. She jumps from the boys' food habits to their verbalization (they all say very funny things, and it made me laugh out loud once or twice, providing part of the humor of the book), to their schooling to the various methods she and the father of the boys attempted to bring words and emotions to their daily lives. The jumping around also leads to a slight repetitiveness which becomes the most pervasive during the middle of the book.

She's very positive, and you can tell she adores her three sons. It seems she is in a relatively unique position to provide them a lot of one-on-one care and be very involved in their lives. Moore also has the capability to step back and distance herself so that she never seems too biased in any direction.

The book definitely provided me with a new perspective on autism, and a new understanding of the mindset of people who are autistic

Poster Child by Emily Rapp

Poster Child is Emily Rapp's memoir of growing up with a congenital condition that led her to have several operations, eventually lose her left leg below the knee, and become the poster child for the March of Dimes. Emily Rapp is inspiring in this book, in which she details her experiences with the operations and her artificial leg. I felt a lot of parallels between this book and my own journey with hearing aids and audiologists.

Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

(Reposted from my Goodreads review, August 25, 2009.)

I was really, really impressed with this. The author drew me in quickly with Jason's voice; I immediately felt as though I was in his head, and his thought process was demystified. It was almost painful, at times, to read Jason's thoughts, and know that he wants to answer someone's question, to explain himself to someone, but he just can't. He struggles constantly with his body movements, his words, and his relation to other people, in a very profound and realistic way.

Although very little actually happens in the story - we are taken through several days of Jason's life, his past, and then to an authors' convention in Texas where he steps outside his own boundaries and grows - it was engrossing. I'd never thought that a book that is basically about a few emails back and forth between two teenagers, as well as one of their lives, would be this interesting, but it's a testament to the author's skill that she was able to write the characters and their interactions so skillfully.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

(Reposted from my Goodreads review, December 29, 2009.)

I thought this was a very realistic portrayal of a girl's life with a younger brother who has autism. Although it is a quick read (it's a juvenile book), it manages to pack a lot of depth and thoughtfulness into its pages. All of the characters face challenges here, and I found each of them realistically portrayed. It was obvious just from reading that the author has experience with autism as well as other disabilities. Although David, Catherine's autistic younger brother, isn't really the central focus of the story, he acts as a chaotic influence on Catherine's life, forcing her to constantly adjust her priorities and her plans. Other characters revolve around the periphery of her life: her somewhat clueless parents, a boy she's interested in, her best friend and a possible future friend. Though little is actually resolved at the end of the story, the book is a sort of slice of Catherine's life, leaving the reader with an optimistic view of how she will continue to grow.