The Thursday Surprise:A Story About Kids and Autism

The Saturday Surprise: A Story About Kids and Autism

by Ryan R. Ennis

Illustrations: Brenda Stroud

The Thursday Surprise picSaturdaySurprisepic

This post reviews two books written about autism. They were written by an educator who works with autistic children. It is his belief that typically developing and autistic children have a lot to teach each other. As an educator who has worked with both populations of children, I can empathize with his perspective. These books are not boring tomes about educational theory and practice, but stories with characters who display the real emotions of these children. For parents and students who are currently being co taught in one of these classrooms or for adults and children who do not understand autism, these two books will shed a lot of light on the topic. Ennis has also thoughtfully included a section of discussion questions about the story as well as teaching resources and techniques that might be found effective in working with a blended classroom.

In The Thursday Surprise, we meet a fourth grader named Katie who is best friends with Melissa. One Thursday, Mrs. Burnette ends recess early informing the students that she has chosen a few of them to take books in to read to students in Mr. Appleton’s room. He teaches students who have autism. Katie and Melissa find the room well-organized but stark and boring. The students act different, and there are a lot of rules. Katie is paired with a boy named Michael who does not pay attention and will not look at her. She can’t get him interested in anything. Katie is so frustrated that she does not want to go back again and is still upset when she gets home. Her mom explains that each autistic child is very different; you need to be patient and try different things. Katie promises her mother and teacher that she will try, but nothing seems to be working. Will Katie find a way to help Michael and gain a new friend?

The September Surprise is not a sequel in the strict sense of the word. We do meet some of the same characters sharing the same problems. As the story begins at the end of the summer, Katie is eagerly awaiting a letter from Parker Elementary School informing her who will be her fifth grade teacher. She is hoping that it will be Mr. Sanders or Mr. Greenley. Instead she finds out that her teachers will be last year’s teacher, Mrs, Burnette along with Mr. Appleton. Katie is convinced that she needs reading help because she is in a class with two teachers and last year Mr. Appleton taught the autistic students. To make matters worse, she finds out that her friend Melissa is in Mr. Greenley’s class. Melissa suggests that maybe Katie did not so so well on her reading test.

On the first day of school Katie reluctantly enters the class and finds herself paired with an autistic child named Brianna, who has echolalia, which means that she repeats everything Katie says. Katie is not amused. She wants Brianna to respond and gets more suggestions from Mr. Appleton. When Katie hears about a writing contest, she is determined that will find a way to communicate with her partner, make her a friend, and win that contest! Katie is beginning to think that this class is a special one and not in the negative way she thought originally.

Ennis presents parents, educators and students with an explanation of autism and a wealth of information on how to handle it. Autism encompasses many issues, and no two autistic children have the same needs. Ryan succeeds by using a simple story with believable characters that make it more understandable and meaningful. The reader will walk away with greater knowledge and compassion.

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