69. Anything but Typical - Nora Raleigh Baskin

Audio Read by Tom Parks - beautifully
Brilliance Audio, 2009
3 unabridged cds
4 hours
208 pages
Many places I've visited say "YA". I go with the ages 9-12, grades 4+
Rating: 5

I started reading this last year, but I couldn't renew it because there were other holds on it, so I didn't get very far. When I ran across this audio form I jumped at the chance to listen. Tom Parks gave the protagonist so much character - this was an excellent read/listen.

Jason Blake is autistic. He flaps, he can't look anyone in the eye, he feels safest looking down or standing toward a wall. He rarely speaks directly to someone other than repeating the last words they said. He has no friends - of course everyone thinks he's "weird." He tells his story in the first person, we get INSIDE HIS HEAD. Wow. Like Out of My Mind, every teacher in the world should read this book!

Jason is a writer, writing on the computer on a STORYBOARD site where others can read his stories and respond to them. He makes a friend in this way, but when he finds they will both be attending a storyboard convention in Dallas he tries to sabotage his attending, because he knows that once Rebecca sees him they'll not be friends anymore. Reality. A happy ending would be great, right? Reality......

I also really enjoyed the way that Baskin included Jason's parents in the story.....how Jason interacts with them, how he knows what they're feeling by the way they act and the looks on their faces, how he relates to each one of them individually. Outstanding on every level, with my parent hat on, with my teacher hat on, with my reader hat on.

I recommended this book to all my colleagues at Wednesday's staff meeting. To get inside Jason's head was magical to me. Everyone's brain works differently, and some work REALLY differently. We all need to not only remember that, but see it and feel it and live it through the pages of an exceptional book like this.