Cambridge Book Review

Walk Awhile in My Autism

A manual of sensitivity presentations
to promote understanding
of people on the autism spectrum

By Kate McGinnity and Nan Negri
ISBN 0-9660376-4-2
160 pp.
$20.00

• "Our goal is to provide a menu of teachings to help others learn about the unique ways in which individuals with autism experience this world. We have attempted to provide teachings that match a variety of learning styles and are appropriate for all ages of students. While these sensitivity strategies have been primarily developed for school settings, they have applicability in a variety of non-school settings as well, including vocational sites, adult living facilities, day care settings, neighborhood and community settings, and family groups. Additionally, while our focus has been specifically on students with autism, there is obviously application across all areas of challenge and difference."

-- The authors, from the Introduction.

• "This wonderful book lives up to the high standards I have come to expect from Kate McGinnity and Nan Negri -- creative, thoughtful, sensitive, current and practical. A must for every parent, every professional and every child who lives with autism. Buy it. Read it. Love it."
  
  -- Anne M. Donnellan, Professor Emerita, Dept. of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, University of Wisconsin, and currently Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, University of San Diego.
  
  
• "I especially liked the quotes from people with autism, Planet Autism [p. 34], and the visual, auditory and tactile exercises to simulate the sensory problems of people with autism. The main thing is all the exercises people can do so teachers, parents, and others can experience how a person with autism senses and feels the world."

-- Temple Grandin, Associate Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, and author of "Emergence: Labeled Autistic," and "Thinking in Pictures."

• "Finally the English-speaking world can see what inspired François Truffaut to make one of his best films. How wonderful to finally have Henri-Pierre Roché's Two English Girls in translation!"
  
  -- Annette Insdorf, author of François Truffaut, and Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University.

• "Rod Clark has one of the most unique voices I have ever encountered. I still quote some of his political insights years later. To have him write political science fiction is both appropriate and intriguing."
  
  -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning science fiction novelist and author of The Black Queen, published in 1999 by Bantam Books.

• "We see stimulants from caffeine to cocaine, alcohol and marijuana to nicotine. His characters glean intelligence (however wacky, artificial, or genius) and courage from their personal favorite highs. In a rather dark interpretation, I often felt as though many of his characters were on a bumpy ride to suicide. Yet, just when we are shaking our heads at them, Wake surprised me with his unfaltering wit and I laughed my fears away. After all, this is human spirit he is so masterfully portraying...."
  
  -- Tracy Walczak, editor of BookLovers.
  
  
• "Caffeine is a book of constant surprises. In this collection of linked stories set in south-central Wisconsin, Wake sets before us the confusions of life in yuppie heaven. And he does so with tough love, and a wit which will have you laughing wickedly along. Bob Wake has a great sense of where he lives, Madison, Wisconsin, postmodern America. I, for one, look forward to continuing words from this bright writer."

-- Jim Stevens, editor of The Journey Home: The Literature of Wisconsin Through Four Centuries. His most recent work is Earth Hunter, a video of his poetry.

• "The range shown by Bob Wake in creating this series of interconnected, readable stories that stand well on their own is a considerable accomplishment. Reading Caffeine & Other Stories is like being a kid again and reaching into a grab bag at a rich friend's birthday party: you can't know what you are going to get, but you can be sure it's going to be damn good."
  
  -- Chris Lott, Eclectica .
  
  
• "Bob Wake writes likes Ralph Steadman draws: a few choice words and boom! there's a real, living, breathing character... Caffeine and Other Stories kicks ass, rocks hard, and leaves you wanting more."
  
  -- Marie Mundaca, Erupture .
  
  
• "Mr. Wake writes with confidence and polished prose, and obviously knows well how to craft a short story."

-- J. Allen Kirsch, author of Madlands, and God's Little Isthmus.

• "Wake is a first class teller of tales and spinner of stories."

-- Midwest Book Review

• "John Lehman's Shrine of the Tooth Fairy won me over immediately, and I bet you'll love it too. Start with the title poem or with 'Del's Supper Club,' with the city landscapes and vivid portraits of 'Just Breakfast' or 'Clark Street Rag,' with the rich humor of '3 Big Dogs in a Convertible' -- or just plunge in anywhere. In Lehman's keen, fresh view, ordinary things can amaze. Again and again, we're startled to recognize what we always had known, but hadn't been aware of before."
  
  -- X.J. Kennedy, former poetry editor for The Paris Review, and the author of An Introduction to Poetry.
  
  
• "John Lehman has written a deeply moving, impressive collection of poetry that is startlingly real, vivid, and insightful."
  
  -- Tracy Walczak, editor of BookLovers.
  
  
• "[John Lehman] has compiled a hearty collection of his own poetry (on quality paper stock that will withstand the inevitable thumbing and re-reading), introduced by one of the best essays I have ever read on the subject."
  
  -- Sandy Raschke,Calliope, March/April 1998.