Language Arts

October 15, 2015
Charles Marlow and his ex-wife need to make decisions concerning the best institutional care for their severely autistic son. Through flashbacks to earlier times, including Charles's upbringing, his learning the Palmer method of penmanship in grade school, and meeting his wife after college and their joint experience of autism in their firstborn, listeners begin to understand how major and minor influences combined to make Charles the lonely, isolated high school language arts teacher he became. Tavia Gilbert does an excellent job providing characterizations, accents, and personalities for the many characters in the story, and Kallos allows the listener to discover potential parallels between autism, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia and to compare past and present acceptance and treatment of mentally and behaviorally challenged people. VERDICT This thought-provoking novel is recommended for adult audio collections. ["A starkly realistic depiction of parenting a child with autism, as well an exploration of memory, loss, and forgiveness": "LJ" 2/1/15 review of the Houghton Harcourt hc.]--Cliff Glaviano, formerly with Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015

Charles Marlow is a divorced language arts teacher in Seattle whose autistic son, Cody, will soon age out of state-supported care. As Charles and his ex-wife negotiate Cody's next steps, memories of Charles's childhood and the early years of his marriage flood back. Of particular significance (for reasons that are slowly revealed) was 1963, Charles's fourth-grade year, when he was part of an experimental language arts program, befriended a developmentally disabled student, and experienced a traumatic event. VERDICT The narrative structure employing multiple points of view and nonlinear time shifts is initially confusing, but Kallos (Broken for You) knows exactly what she's doing. While one or two subplots are perhaps not as developed as they could be, the author draws a web of connections that continue to reveal themselves up to the novel's closing pages. Despite its fanciful elements (including, of all things, the power of the Palmer method of cursive writing to draw people together), this is a starkly realistic depiction of parenting a child with autism, as well an exploration of memory, loss, and forgiveness. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.