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A Parent's Guide to Down Syndrome Toward a Brighter Future edited by Siegfried M. Pueschel, 200l
Parenting a child with Down Syndrome includes much of the same experiences involved in parenting a chromosomally typical child, as well as experiences specific to the parenting of retarded children. People with Down Syndrome do not do as much incidental learning, and therefore require more instruction on their way to independant living. Occasionally, Down Syndrome is due to a parent's translocation, and then the parent has a high likelihood of having more children with Down Syndrome. Currently no drug treatments for retardation in people with Down Syndrome has been proven to be effective. Due to the large number of genes on responsible for neural growth located on chromosome 21, no drug treatment is expected. However, people with Down Syndroem can alredy lead happy, healthy, productive lives. The only obviously objectionable statement found in this book is in the first chapter; not alll people with Down Syndrome are tenaciously loyal. Most of the chapters of this book are about specific aspects of parenting or of Down Syndroem. The authors mostly use as exmples their own experiences with their children. Toward a Brighter Future speaks for he fullness of life with Down Syndrome from the dedication, which includes a dedication to an author's daughter-in-law with Down's. Recommended reading follows each chapter, and an index is at the back. Question: The authors advocate friendships for people with Down Syndrome with disabled and nondisabled people. Would you be willing to befriend a retarded person? Pleasant and informative reading.
To be ironic Miles' boarding school roomate nicknames him Pudge the day they meet. Pudge is skinny. The roomate's nickname is Colonel, and like a colonel he marchs Pudge through his introduction to boarding school. Among the people Pudge meets is Alaska(her real name), the most stunningly beautiful girl Pudge has ever met. Unfortunately, she already has a boyfriend. Colonel, Alaska and Takumi bring Pudge into their idyllic life of pranking, drinking, smoking, studying, and discussing deep topics at early hours. While the characters are meandering through their lives, the reader is watching the countdown. All chapters are labeled by countdown and then a countup. Unfortunatley, all summaries other than this one(including that of the Library of Congress, included on the verso) will tell you what that central event is. Question: Miles attends boarding school seeking a Great Perhaps. What is a Great Perhaps, and are you seeking it? Thoughtful reading.
Fourteen Growing Up Alone in a Crowd by Stephen Zanichkowsky
Martin and Johanna married in 1942. In 1943, Martha, the dutiful daughter, was born. Louise came in 1944. 1945 brought Marty. Jimmy was born in 1946, set apart from the rest until institutionalized at the age of 13. Anne(1948) had from brain damage and came at the world from an odd angle. 1950's Catherine was Anne's playmate. 1951 brought Paul. The author followed in 1952. Tony was born in 1953. Elizabeth had 1954, followed by Grace in 1955. Rita was born in 1957. Two miscarriages made an age gap; Jane was born in 1960. The only one to enjoy a relationship with their father, Stephanie was born in 1961. The family was large, it was loud, and it was scary. Corporal punishment was used to excess. Being one of fourteen meant that money and attention were always scarce. Stephen wanted desperately to stand out from the crowd. With his role models being older brothers who had also not benefitted from much parental attention, Stephen did not learn mcuh in the ways of morals or about the facts of life. He was attracted first to his sisters, before other girls. He cooperated with his brothers in their attempts to steal. Although many of the fourteen successfully left their childhoods behind them, Stephen was not one of these. His resentment of his parents was such that he did not attend his grandfather's funeral, to spite his father. After his mother's death, the will that is read disinherits all of the fourteen. Stephen sets out to find out if his parents had really loved them, and the result is this book. Although the book is written from a mature perspective, the self that Zanichkowsky writes about is a very immature one. The settings and situations that he writes about are all painful ones, full of tired anger and resentment. None are carefree, few are happy. More than a few are disturbing. Zanichkowsky's resentment against his particular family may be a bit overgeneralized in his assumption that all large families are as dysfunctional as his own. Thoughtful reading.
Biblio Files Month 17 Books Reviewed:23 Total Books Reviewed:350 Days Blogged/Days In Period:19/30 New Members:none Active Members:3 Number of Hits This Data Period:246 Total Number of Hits:3315 Features Added: Links to comics on the index sidebar. My recommended books for this month: The Seeing Glass by Jacquelin Gorman and Queer Science by Simon LeVay Comments: I've begun putting the date of publication after the author in reviews of books where I believe that the time in which the book was written is pertinant to an understanding of the book. Robert Oppenheimer visited the site this month.
Tuesdays With Morrie An old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson by Mitch Albom
In the spring of 1976, his freshman year, Mitch meets his teacher, mentor and confidant in his professor Morrie Shwartz. Although Mitch stays close to Morrie right up to graduation, he makes no effort to keep in touch afterwards. In 1995, Morrie was featured on TV, dying from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gherig's Disease. Mitch sees the show, and then goes to visit his teacher. Morrie, though weak, is as warm and wise as always. Mitch's union goes on strike, leaving him hanging loose. To fill that time, Mitch begins to visit his old teacher every Tuesday, as they had met in college. Wanting to learn the trick to Morrie's continued happiness, Mitch makes a list of topics he want to discuss: death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness and a meaningful life. Mitch and Morrie discuss each topic as Morrie's health dissipates incrementally, dying shortly after their last lesson. The reader's stake in the matter is mostly in the hope that Mitch will learn what Morrie has to teach, but whether Morrie's lessons will stick any better than they had in college is unclear. Question: Mitch is surprised when Morrie says that his perfect day would be a routine one. What would your perfect day be like? Pleasant, philosophic reading.
More Than Meets the Eye by Joan Brock with Derek L. Gill
Getting her daughter dressed in the morning, Joan couldn't find her daughter's pink socks. Her daughter(Joy) insisted that a pair of white socks were pink. Puzzled, Joan asked her husband what color socks Joy was wearing. He said pink. Over the next weeks, Joan lost the rest of her colors and much of her vision. She retained the ability to see some contrast with her peripheral vision, but nothing else. The doctors excitedly studied her eyes; as they hadn't seen anything like her case before, they had no ideas about how to treat it. Joan had already been working at a residential school for the blind. Although some of her responsibilities had to be switched, she continued working at the school, with a new connection to the students. Joan adjusted to her new life beautifully, functioning well even when her husband died of cancer of the sinuses. I was initially confused when the author is referred to as Mrs.Beringer, until I realized that that was her husband's name, which she has since changed. I was also confused by the names of her family members, all of which start with J. Mrs.Brock is a Christian, and her Christian stories add a nice touch to the story. Happy reading.
Hearts and Hands Creating Community in Violent Times by Luis Rodriguez
Many of today's youths are not being raised by today's adults. So they raise each other- in gangs. Despite the facts that the majority of gang members are nonviolent and that they are most in need of services, society exacts harsh penalties for mere membership in gangs. Some states have laws holding guilty any people in a car for crimes committed by other people in that car. That means that if someone is in the car doing his best to dissuade another from shooting, or merely unaware that the other has a gun, and the other shoots someone, then the passenger may be facing more than 20 years in jail. Jails are increasingly privatized. The contract is given to whomever can a run a jail the most cheaply, meaning that jails are becoming less rehabilitative and more deadly. Once out of jail, it is very hard for the convict to find anyone willing to hire him. Gangs trying to make peace with each other are often targetted by the police. These and many other offences against youths are cited by Rodriguez. He also speaks of the abilities and untapped talents of the youth, and what adults should do to bring out the best in the youth. He cites his own experiences as a youth, a parent, a lecturer, and a poet. Notes are included. A bibliography would have been useful, but is not included. Question: How effective are punishments in the prevention of crime? How effective is the escalation of punishment? Inspirational reading.
During long and heavy rains, rats infest the homes of the poeple of Hamlin. The townspeople and then the farmers become sick until the people of Hameln town are all sick. Only Salz and the children who are weaned but not yet of age to reason are spared. Folks say that the rat plague is responsible. Our narrator Salz has cystic fibrosis. He is thus set apart from the rest of the children in the story. Breath is a historical fiction retelling of the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. The explanation in the back of the book explains much, but not why the rats are so plentiful. Question: The piper worries about being paid because he believes he has risked his life. How much money would you risk your life for? Happy reading.
Stitching A Revolution The Making of an Activist by Cleve Jones with Jeff Dawson, 2000
After Cleve Jones agreed to speak to a group of academics about homosexuality, he knew he'd have to finally come out to his parents. He had expected a nonchallant response from his parents, but he didn't get one. So Jones left home. He went to San Francisco for a few years, then went over to Europe and the rest of the world. Shortly after witnessing a gay pride fest in Barcelona, Jones returned to San Francisco. There he met budding politician Harvey Milk. Milk needed a charismatic speaker to raise support with radical demonstrations, and Jones fit the bill. Harvey Milk was assassignated, and Jones was a part of the riots that followed the Twinkie decision (Dan White was convicted of manslaughter and not murder). Jones then got a job working to process health claims for the city. He began to notice a "gay cancer". Many gay men were becoming sick. They had what would later become known as AIDS. After Jones' friend Marvin died of AIDS, Jones made a quilt in his memory. To do something to help survivors and raise awareness of AIDS, Jones created the AIDS Quilt. The Quilt grew and grew and grew. It spawned organizations to benefit AIDS victims, more AIDS Quilts, and unity. Eventually it outgrew Jones. This is a militant, angry book. It presents gay history, as seen by Cleve Jones. The section about Harvey Milk and Jones' activism then is painful to read in its intensity. The story of the Quilt is more pleasant, but the reader is not allowed to forget(as he should not forget) the reason for the existance of a Quilt. One fact in this book contradicts the known facts: Jones claims a particular friend was the first openly HIV+ to speak in front of a political convention, but the first person was Elizabeth Glaser. The book includes an index, but the index didn't have anything under the key words I was looking for. There also pictures in the middle. Conscientious reading.
Robin Gorman was among those diagnosed autistic by Leo Kanner. Seven years younger, his sister Jackie fearfully watched her family's interactions with Robin, as well as his internment at Rosewood, a hospital home where Robin was tranquilized and strait-jacketed. Robin eventually left Rosewood, but was hit by a car and killed a few years later. In 1991, Jackie Gorman's went in to the hospital after her housekeeper claimed that there was blood on her. When the doctor covered her left eye, she realized that she could see nothing out of her right eye. The color red was gone from both eyes. Shortly thereafter, Jackie awoke one morning with no sight at all. For ten and a half weeks, her sight remained nonexistent. During that time, Jackie spent a lot of time relieving her time with her brother, remembering their childhood with intense visual detail. This memoir is written alternating past and present for most of the book. The two narratives support each other. The seeing glass, the title, is the part that bind the two stories most. After relieving her many memories of Robin, Jackie decides to look through the things that Robin had when he died. Among his possessions she find one of the pieces of colored glass that Robin used to look through. She find that it also helps her to see, while many of the colors remain out of her sight. Reading the reviews on the back of this book made me mad. The majority describe Robin's life as short and tragic. Happily, Gorman does not describe her brother's life as tragic; it is the adult reception of him that is tragic. What made Jackie lose her sight and why she got it back is not clear. At one point, the doctor says that her chances of having Multiple Sclerosis are 80 to 90 percent, but whether or not Jackie has Multiple Sclerosis is never divulged. Jackie presents herself as a timid person. Although she appears to be facing life more decissively by the end of her narrative, I would have liked to see her grow further. Question: Is institutionalization of autists ever a good idea? Happy reading.
Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
In 1996, Jon Krakauer, sponsored by Outside magazine, climbed Mt. Everest with a guide. Mt. Everest always has bad weather. Because the weather is best around early May, many of the guided expeditions choose that time for their summit climb. In 1996, many tours were on Everest, and they were not getting along well. Although they met and agreed that only two groups would climb on the 10th of May, most of the groups climbed then. Everest had a bad storm that day. Twelve people died climbing Everest in May 1996. Krakauer wrote this book in part to relieve the deaths of the many people he had gotten to know while climbing Everest. He talks about everything remotely relevant to the climb. Reading this book provides extensive information about Everest and about climbing. It is also about the finances of Tibet, about Sherpas, and about the reasons that people climb in dangerous situations. Krakauer would like the deaths to have meaning, to be at the very least a warning, but more people continue to climb and die on Everest. I usually do not consider vocabulary while I read, unless the book has an unusual one, but I read this book in order to provide definitions for difficult words for a friend who is required to read it. The vocabulary is far above what most high schoolers know or understand. Further, many of the words are not in the American Heritage dictionary, because Krakauer uses a lot of Brittish slang. He also uses a lot of metaphor and nonstandard usages of words. Some prior knowledge of mountaineering would probably also be useful in reading the book. Pictures and diagrams vary between editions of the book. Cautionary reading.
We Have Been There Families Share the Joys and Struggles of Living With Mental Retardation Compiled by Terrell Dougan, Lyn Isbell, and Patricia Vyas, 1983
Terrell Dougan was twelve when his parents started their local chapter of ARC. As an adult, she helped to establish a group home, which her sister then could be kicked out of. Lynn Isbell's son Walter has Down Syndrome, as does Pat Vyas' son Peter. Peter has done well in his two years in a normal co-op preschool. Walter learned not to ride in the street via his mother's application of a Japanese rice server on his bottom. The stories and advice pieces in this book are divided into nine topic areas. Some of the contributors wrote pieces for numerous topic areas, some wrote only one. Many families have pieces written by more than one member. The topics range from from the frustrations of advocacy to how to discipline a retarded child. Some of the retarded subjects are children; some are adults. As families are more involved with children than adults, this book has more pieces on children than adults. Some of the retarded subjects of this book write about themselves. My favorite piece is Supplication by Ken Yockey, a fictitious conversation with the Lord. Happy reading.
Trevor's Place The Story of the Boy Who Brings Hope to the Homeless by Frank and Janet Ferrell with Edward Wakin, 1985
Trevor Ferrell was startled and surprised when he learned from TV that his own city, Philadelphia, had people living on its streets. He asked his parents to bring him downtown to see the homeless. His parents said no. After Trevor had walked away, his parents decided that their decision was not in keeping with their Christian values. They said yes. Trevor brought his blanket and pillow and gave them to a homeless man he found. The Ferrells began going downtown daily, distributing first their own bedding, then food and clothing, and then whatever they collected from others. Their efforts grew and grew. Trevor flunked 6th grade and Frank Ferrell closed his bussiness. They opened Trevor's Place as a home for the homeless. Although this story is billed as Trevor's, the impression I get from reading this book is that Trevor's interest merely sparked his father's crusade for the homeless. This story is told as Frank Ferrell's narrative. Happy reading.
Born deaf to deaf parents, Jacobs is a native signer. Many deaf people have been through oral programs before learning sign, and have poor communication skills, but Jacobs grew up among deaf people who had also been fortunate enough to sign early. Jacobs is a successful deaf adult, and his book is meant to draw attention to the problem that many deaf adults are not successful. They have been held back, not so much by being deaf, but by poor education and poor development of communication. Jacobs lays out the pertinant facts about deafness: the state of education and services for deaf people, how they are changing, and how they should be changed. Jacobs explains his positions in detail, citing studies, statistics, stories and possibilities. Jacobs' own experiences flavor the book but are not necessary to any of his points. I especially enjoyed Jacobs' argument against mainstreaming. His statistics on how much time is spent in school by the average student are also interesting. Laws about education have changed since 1989, although current laws support mainstreaming as much as previous ones did. References, short stories, resources, and an interview of rank-and-file deaf people are at the back of the book. Happy reading.
