When I originally wrote my questioning the text paper, my question was; How does the fact that the story was based in the 1930's, while autism was not identified until 1942 affect the way in which Natalie was percieved by others. I thought that this was a good point to start from because I found the language and tone of the book to be very negative towards Natalie. Her own family did things like lie about her age and call her names like "fruitcake". The text even said that "Natalie was there, but she didn't matter."
Natalie was not able to grow as much as I would have liked to see in the book. I feel that the fact that she did not make it into the school on her own very unsettling. I thought that was going to be the ultimate outcome of this story but when Al Capone had to assist in getting her in, I had pretty much lost all hope of me liking the book. I do not think this is the image of a person with autism that I would want children and young adults to read. When I read the books for this class, I think about how I could use them in my classroom. This one will not be making it through the door.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Will you add a comment to the class page that says you are taking up the discussion on your own blog and then add the address? I want people to be able to find your ideas!
Post a Comment