Good Morning! Here’s the Monday Morning Blog!
How was your week last week? Get a chance to check in with that teen in your life? Our Young Adults were on Spring Break. They had a couple of friends stop by and visit and did a lot of sleeping in.
Hope you had a wonderful Easter. We had a family Easter dinner yesterday. While we were waiting for the side dishes to get ready, our oldest son was working with Jim on guitar chords. It was so nice to see Jim as the teacher and our son anxious to learn.
April is National Autism Awareness Month
April is National Autism Awareness Month. What is Autism? Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a serious developmental disorder of the nervous system that impairs the ability to communicate or interact. It causes a person to have restricted or repetitive behavior. I’ll be focusing the posts this month towards Autism to raise awareness about what Autism is and what we can do to accept those who have this disorder.
Since 2011, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) has been referring to April as Autism Acceptance Month to gain acceptance of those who have autism. Acceptance is one of the biggest barriers to finding and building a strong support system for autistic individuals.
To kick off our theme of Autism this month, the book I picked to review is novel about a high functioning autistic individual who thought he was doing a good thing, but it wound up being not so good. He was only following the rules.
Selma’s Book Review
Book Title
House Rules
Author
Jodi Picoult
Type of Book
Mystery, Thriller
Author Background
Jodi Picoult is an American writer who has published twenty-six novels. House Rules is the eighteenth one. Her style is one of a storyteller. And this novel is no exception. She has done her research but has also experienced autism through her cousin, who was profoundly autistic.
Summary of the book
House Rules is the story about Jacob Hunt, who has a form of autism called Asperger Syndrome. He is very intelligent and has a deep knowledge of crime scenes and criminal investigations. He starts working with a private tutor, Jess Ogilvy, who he starts to have feelings for, in his own way. One day, while meeting her for a session, he finds her at the house she is staying at dead. The rest of the story is the investigation and how Jacob becomes involved in it.
Reaction to the book
I really liked the book. She did a great job of portraying the character Jacob and how he dealt with Asperger’s and how the people around him had to deal with him. Reading about Autism through the use of an engaging novel helps to not only learn about the disorder, but it makes the situation more relatable for the reader.
Link to the author
If you want to learn more about Joi Picoult, here is a link to her website Jodi Picoult
Link to the book
If you want to purchase House Rules, here is a link to Amazon – House Rules. Or you can pick it up from your local bookstore or shop Bookshop.org and have the purchase credited to them.
Photo by Morgan Lane on Unsplash
Happy Birthday to The Hard Way
This month is a big month for me too! On April 12th, we will be celebrating four years since The Hard Way was first published.
It is a coming-of-age novel focusing on the teen challenges of peer pressure and the importance of choosing the right friends. Be sure to look at the books tab of my website to find out more about The Hard Way. Here is a link The Hard Way.
Have a great week!
