Familylight ^sm uses this space to recommend fiction of interest to people who care about kids. 

An outstanding look at the thinking process of a child on the Autism/ PDD spectrum is a mystery story with a fictional autistic child appearing as narrator and protagonist:  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  Wikipedia carries a nice description of the book. 

Our initial venture here emphasized quality novels and short stories not likely to be found in the mainstream.  We label this genre "Against All Odds." It is difficult to be succinct in describing what the stories in this group have in common.  Many (not all) give extraordinary insight into the minds and spirits of adolescents.  That is our main reason for recommending these stories.  Some are about the rescue of battered and abused and abandoned children.  Many depict teen-agers as larger than life heroes.   

We believe that one story in this group should be required reading for all high school and middle school educators.

We will be adding more conventional fiction to our list. We invite suggestions.

Links:

"Against All Odds" interest area

Return to Recommended Reading

Feedback is invited. We will publish feedback in good taste, consistent with our standards.  Email FamilyLightResponse@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: No  program review, no matter how positive, is a blanket endorsement. No criticism is a blanket condemnation.  When we express our level of confidence in a school or program, that is our subjective opinion with which others might reasonably disagree.  When we assert something as fact, we have done our best to be accurate, but we cannot guarantee that all of our information is accurate and up to date. When we address compliance with our guidelines, you need to remember that these are only OUR guidelines -- not guidelines from an official source.  We have also set the bar very high, and do not expect any school or program to be in total compliance.  It is not appropriate to draw a conclusion of impropriety (or even failure to live up to conventional wisdom) from our lack of confidence in a school or program or from less than perfect conformity to our guidelines.  Some will say we expect too much. Readers are responsible for verifying accuracy of information supplied here prior to acting upon it. We are not responsible for inaccuracies.

Last updated March  22, 2010