Tennessee Next Chapter Book Clubs

Some time ago, I wrote about the Next Chapter Book Clubs. 

These book clubs are for  older adolescents/young adults with autism, down syndrome or other developmental challenges. 

I was excited to see that there is now a book

club in Nashville (age 17 and up) and I asked the coordinator of the Middle Tennessee book clubs which books the club members enjoyed:

“One of our book clubs just finished Devin and the Greedy Ferret by Leo Kennedy!  Some of the other books that have been big hits are Mr. Poppers Penguin's, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and Treasure Island-anything with a movie that can be watched at the end is very popular!

The group that read Devin and the Greedy Ferret enjoyed it and were very impressed with who the author was-one of the participants had had a children's book self-published several years ago so she particularly thought it was pretty cool!”

There is a Nashville Next Chapter Book Club that meets each Tuesday night at the Starbucks Café in Target on White Bridge Road. If you’re interested in joining or starting a book club in the Middle Tennessee area, contact the Arc of Williamson County.

Leo Kennedy, a parishioner at St. Henry Church, works on a new book. He recently published his first book, “Devin and the Greedy Ferret.” Photo by Andy Telli

Hiatus

No cries of outrage or pleas for assistance followed last week's enforced break, so I'm taking a hiatus from the blog.
There are over two hundred entries here from alphabet books to young adult,
so I hope you can find what you need without me for a while.
If you do have an urgent request, don't be shy.
Comment or email me:
autismreads at gmail dot com.
I'll check in at least once a week, and if all goes well,
I should be back at the end of May.

Talk to Me

Gee, I didn't actually mean to post this yet.
The site went through a techno-crisis this 
week.
I won't go into the gory, boring details.
Let's put it this way: nothing is automatic.
Except, apparently, my auto-scheduling
of this post which I had abandoned to
try to fix the site problem. 

My mother recently asked me,
"Do people tell you how witty and enjoyable your blog is?"
Why no, Mother, no they don't.
And that's fine.
I love hearing compliments from my mother, but I certainly don't
expect the rest of you (who are probably looking here to
find some help for a wonderful child) to sing my praises.
I get enough of that from the spammers ("Your sight it is grate.
Please visit my diet date spot.")
What does make me feel a little cold and barren is the lack
of other experiences and reviews. I hoped that more people
would want to share their book finds and reading strategies.
I am very grateful to those who have, and I do understand
about not having the time to comment. I rarely do myself.
But remember you can comment. And there's an Autism
Reads Facebook page too if you prefer that. 
Anyway, I was sort of left wondering if anyone would even
notice if Autism Reads disppeared.
(Except for my Mother - love you always)
Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out
there - you care about reading, which makes you the best!
-Spectrum Mom
sorry for being a little blue today. It won't last.

Fly Guy

I almost feel the title of this post gives you all
the information you need. But perhaps you'd like the
author's name too?
Tedd Arnold
or, in book shelving order, 
Arnold, Tedd
There. My work is done.
You want more?
(sigh)
Okay, okay, I'm not getting paid for this you know .  .  .
The Fly Guy series is published by cartwheel books,
an imprint of Scholastic. The series consists of twelve titles
so far. The eponymous (look it up if needed) hero
is the winged pet/best friend of the brush cut boy,
Buzz.
Each thirty page book contains three chapters of an easy to read adventure. What makes them particularly appealing are the
full color illustrations, the large clear text, and the healthy
dose of comedy.
Two of these books won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book
title, one of these was the very first, Hi! Fly Guy.
But you may read them out of order.

Disney Pixar Storybook

I've mentioned before that Disney stories may be
especially accessible for some of our children.
The stories often have familiar characters and
story lines, and they are bountifully illustrated
with familiar images.
The Disney Pixar Storybook Collection gathers
together twenty stories from twenty favorite 
movies. The cover features six of the movies,
others include The Incredibles and A Bug's Life.
Chances are, if your kid loves a Disney/Pixar
movie, it's in here.
The large print size, direct storytelling, and full
color illustrations should appeal to many 
youngsters with autism. But the placement of
illustrations is haphazard, often with no apparent
relationship between text and picture. That can
be a big problem for literal thinkers.
And. if your child is like mine, you may find him/her
squinting at the teeny tiny type on the page
following the table of contents where you can find
out who actually wrote these stories.
Still, kids who like the movie characters will enjoy
the look of this book. And it's sturdy, with silver
edged pages. It won't take as much abuse as a 
board book, but it should stand up to careless
handling.
Perhaps that's not important in your house.
It is in mine.
Wishing you good reading,
-Spectrum Mom