Customer Reviews

Captain Tommy

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4 star:		(2)
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A lovely tale of acceptance. This does not appear to be the work of a literary genius, but, still, stories like this need to be available to children. Accepting individual differences is the most important ingredient in improving this world, and the author fully succeeds in promoting such an ideal.

This masterpiece is a brilliant, compassionate work about acceptance.

Tommy and his friend Kevin are two tweens (8-12) who are excited about attending day camp. At Camp Acorn, they are greeted with the news that it is "Space Week," where each camper is expected to make space themed projects and play space themed games.

A new boy named John is in their group. He has an aide who helps direct him when others ask him questions. Kevin and Tommy first saw John sliding down the same rock. John's aide later tells Tommy that routine and doing the same things helps John feel safe and oriented.

She then asks Tommy to partner up with John instead of Kevin. She sees compassion in Tommy and the real chance for him to reach out to a child in need. Without ever using the word "autism," it is clear from John's behavior that he has autism. He flaps his hands; is marginally verbal and needs extra help to focus on what the group is doing. His aide and the camp counselor see Tommy as a person who can help John do these things. The aide tells Tommy that he is the ship's "captain" and that it is a captain's job to bring in ships who, like John are lost in space. Filled with pride at being named captain, Tommy plays with John and discovers this boy has skills the other children do not. John is very agile and has a wonderful imagination. Together, the captain and the lost space ship forge to frontiers previously unknown!

This is an ideal book for children of all ages. This deserves a place of honor in the home and in the classroom. A must have for all!

"Trevor, Trevor" Trevor Trevor and Personal Space Camp are the ideal companion books to this one.

This book makes for good classroom reading and is a great tool for helping students learn how to interact with children that may be different than themselves. While children may be reluctant to play with someone who seemingly is indifferent, rude or just does some strange things, this book shows them how they can reach out and be a friend to them.

we used this book to read to students in regular education class. it really helped them see through the story character why their classmate with autism was different. used in conjuncion with classroom discussion it was a powerful inclusion tool.