Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3255784 in Books
• Published on: 1990-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews

Susan Felder is an eight year old girl with autism.
Susan Felder is an eight year old autistic girl, and one of Kristy's babysitting charges. She is sent by her parents to a special school, and hardly ever makes any friends. Kristy, being a very strong believer in friends finds this very hard to accept, and tries with all her might to help Susan make friends, and to stop her parents sending her away again. But her efforts are in vain, as at the end, her parents explain to Kristy why they cannot keep her with them, and she gets sent away again. I had to read this book for a school project on Autism. Considering that there aren't many fictional books about Autism, this was very good. But the story gets a bit confused with another main storyline in the book about a new family from Australia, who are suffering from racism. The story explains a lot of the perculiar talents that Susan has, and explains why she can only do these things, and not ordinary things such as write or even talk. Very enjoyable.

Mediocre - Same Tired Tune, Different Singers
I felt this was a mediocre book about an 8-year-old child who has autism. Kristy, the protagonist in this work baby sits Susan, whose autism is so severe that she does not communicate meaningfully. She has an extraordinary gift for music and can reproduce any song she hears on the piano. She does not play or interact with others.

Other kids soon learn of Susan's musical prowess and charge admission to hear her play. They exploit her talents until Kristy intervenes. Susan can also provide any given date and her mother explains that Susan once saw a perpetual calendar which sparked this interest.

Parts of the book reflected antiquated attitudes and misperceptions about autism. Kristy looks the word up in the dictionary and the definition provided was that it is a form of schizophrenia or withdrawal from reality. Autism is NOT schizophrenia and people with autism don't necessarily "withdraw from reality." Indeed, people with autism often feel bombarded with outside stimuli and develop coping mechanisms to "come even," that is to tone down the sensory onslaught that is so much a part of the autism experience. Suggesting that autism is in any way, shape and form related to schizophrenia has proved very costly to people with autism. Sadly, this kind of thing has caused many people with autism to be misdiagnosed. This in turn has led to many inappropriate treatments and placements being inflicted on people with autism! This kind of thing does not help anybody and has harmed many.

This book is not meant to be a diagnostic tool, but I wish autism had been defined in a more accurate way. I for one am tired of seeing characters with autism being portrayed as having savant abilities. That only applies to roughly 10% of the autistic population and I can't help but wonder if this story just reinforces those stereotypes of people with autism to the neurotypical population. Same old tired tune, just a different performer.

To the author's credit, no promises are made. Susan is by the close of the story enrolled in a residential program for autistic children. I did feel the story was extremely weak. I also wondered why Susan was sent to a residential school as opposed to a day program in her area.

Read Ann M. Martin's "Inside Out" instead. That is a much better book by this author about a child who has autism.

Same Tired Tune, Different Performers
I felt this was a mediocre book about an 8-year-old child who has autism. Kristy, the protagonist in this work baby sits Susan, whose autism is so severe that she does not communicate meaningfully. She has an extraordinary gift for music and can reproduce any song she hears on the piano. She does not play or interact with others.

Other kids soon learn of Susan's musical prowess and charge admission to hear her play. They exploit her talents until Kristy intervenes. Susan can also provide any given date and her mother explains that Susan once saw a perpetual calendar which sparked this interest.

Parts of the book reflected antiquated attitudes and misperceptions about autism. Kristy looks the word up in the dictionary and the definition provided was that it is a form of schizophrenia or withdrawal from reality. Autism is NOT schizophrenia and people with autism don't necessarily "withdraw from reality." Indeed, people with autism often feel bombarded with outside stimuli and develop coping mechanisms to "come even," that is to tone down the sensory onslaught that is so much a part of the autism experience. Suggesting that autism is in any way, shape and form related to schizophrenia has proved very costly to people with autism. Sadly, this kind of thing has caused many people with autism to be misdiagnosed. This in turn has led to many inappropriate treatments and placements being inflicted on people with autism! This kind of thing does not help anybody and has harmed many.

This book is not meant to be a diagnostic tool, but I wish autism had been defined in a more accurate way. I for one am tired of seeing characters with autism being portrayed as having savant abilities. That only applies to roughly 10% of the autistic population and I can't help but wonder if this story just reinforces those stereotypes of people with autism to the neurotypical population. Same old tired tune, just a different performer.

To the author's credit, no promises are made. Susan is by the close of the story enrolled in a residential program for autistic children. I did feel the story was extremely weak. I also wondered why Susan was sent to a residential school as opposed to a day program in her area.

Read Ann M. Martin's "Inside Out" instead. That is a much better book by this author about a child who has autism. At least James is a Beatles' fan!