Anything But Typical

Zusatztext “A children’s book that’s every bit as subtle and smart as the best adult novel.”— nytimes.com Informationen zum Autor Nora Raleigh Baskin Klappentext An acclaimed writer delivers an eye-opening depiction of an autistic boy's daily life and lifelong struggles to exist in a neurotypical world! in a groundbreaking novel told from the boy's perspective. Anything But Typical Chapter One Most people like to talk in their own language. They strongly prefer it. They so strongly prefer it that when they go to a foreign country they just talk louder, maybe slower, because they think they will be better understood. But more than talking in their own language, people like to hear things in a way they are most comfortable. The way they are used to. The way they can most easily relate to, as if that makes it more real. So I will try to tell this story in that way. And I will tell this story in first person. I not he. Me not him. Mine not his. In a neurotypical way. I will try— To tell my story in their language, in your language. I am Jason Blake. And this is what someone would say, if they looked at me but could only see and could only hear in their own language: That kid is weird (he’s in SPED, you know). He blinks his eyes, sometimes one at a time. Sometimes both together. They open and close, open and close, letting the light in, shutting it out. The world blinks on and off. And he flaps his hands, like when he is excited or just before he is going to say something, or when he is thinking. He does that the most when he’s on the computer or reading a book. When his mind is focused on the words, it separates from his body, his body that almost becomes a burden, a weight. Weight. Wait. Only his fingers don’t stand still while they wait. They flap at the ends of his hands, at the ends of his wrists. Like insects stuck on a string, stuck in a net. Like maybe they want to fly away. Maybe he does too. In first grade they put a thick, purple rubber band across the bottom bar of his desk chair, so Jason would have something to jiggle with his feet when he was supposed to be sitting still. In second grade Matthew Iverson sent around a note saying, If you think Jason Blake is a retard, sign this, and Matthew got sent to the principal’s office, which only made things worse for Jason. In third grade Jason Blake was diagnosed with ASD, autistic spectrum disorder. But his mother will never use that term. She prefers three different letters: NLD, nonverbal learning disorder. Or these letters: PDD-NOS, pervasive developmental disorder– non-specific. When letters are put together, they can mean so much, and they can mean nothing at all. From third grade until this year, sixth grade, Jason had a one-on-one aide, who followed him around school all day. She weighed two hundred and three pounds. (Jason asked her once, and she told him.) You couldn’t miss seeing her. But the thing people see the most is his silence, because some kinds of silence are actually visible. When I write, I can be heard. And known. But nobody has to look at me. Nobody has to see me at all. School doesn’t always go very well. It is pretty much a matter of time before the first thing of the day will go wrong. But today I’ve gotten far. It is already third period. Mrs. Hawthorne is absent and so we ar...

Product details

• Authors: Nora Raleigh Baskin
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 10 to 14
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.03.2009
• EAN: 9781416963783
• ISBN: 978-1-4169-6378-3
• No. of pages: 176
• Subject: Children's and young people's books