8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Secret of Susan # 32 - Babysitters Club, February 8, 2005
This review is from: Kristy and the Secret of Susan (Baby-Sitters Club) (Library Binding)
The book is based partly on the author's experience as a therapist with autistic children during the summer she was in college. At the back of the book Ann Martin mentions this and the book she wrote before The Babysitters Club series, entitled, Inside Out.
Introducing a character with autism in The Babysitter series was a good idea, just presented in a way I did not like. Having a child with autism should never be a secret. This book is a start by educating children about those with autism.
The premise of The Babysitters Club is to meet three times a week for thirty minutes to get calls for sitting jobs. Each of the members has a title and function. Kristy and The Secret of Susan is written in the third person, by Kristy. Kristy is President of the Babysitters Club, thirteen years old and in the eighth grade.
There is a Babysitters Club notebook that contains the writeup of all the jobs they do. They learn how their friends solve problems and what is going on with the kids they watch.
I often found myself looking back to the beginning recap on each of the members since it was confusing to recall the sibling names for all the girls.
The reason for me perusing The Babysitters Club #32, Kristy and The Secret of Susan was due to the topic of autism, so I tried to keep track of all the members.
One day Mrs. Felder called to get someone to sit Susan. Susan went to a special school far away, currently home for one month before heading off to another new school. Mrs. Felder wanted a sitter for three days a weeks from 3:30 - 5:30, so she could have a break. Mrs. Felder mentioned to Kristy on the phone that Susan was autistic.
At the Babysitters Club meeting the girls discussed what autistic meant. Kristy looked the word up in the dictionary, which mentioned Childhood Schizophrenia. When checking that word out Kristy became more confused, "withdrawing from reality".
I liked that the storyline had them check the dictionary. In fact that was the first place I looked when I read "autistic like" in a report seven years ago relating to my own son.
Right away I had mixed feelings about Mrs. Felder. It did not seem right to me as the single parent to two boys on the autism spectrum that this parent needed so many breaks during a one-month period her eight year old autistic daughter was home. I felt this was the wrong message and would have preferred if she needed to keep up with some obligations she had year-long. It seemed a bit drastic for respite time with the time-period chosen.
We learn that Susan plays the piano and remembers dates. She can sing and recite music she just heard, but does not speak. Although not mentioned within the pages of The Babysitters Club, Kristy and The Secret of Susan these are savant skills that affect about 10% of the autistic population.
Susan is in her own world, she wrings her hands, clicks her tongue and rarely makes eye contact. Her yard is fenced in for she gallops back and forth. My son is also eight and he has been skipping merrily along for several years now and does not speak either.
The month went by quickly and then it was time for Kristy to help Mrs. Felder pack for Susan and say goodbye. This was when Kristy met Mr. Felder and told him of her dream to keep Susan home with them and make friends in the neighborhood.
Mr. Felder explained to Kristy about the special school and how they used music to get through to kids. It was also shared that Mrs. Felder was going to have another baby.
Kristy thought about being a teacher working with special kids like Susan. The Babysitters Club, Kristy and The Secret of Susan covers fifteen chapters within 145 pages. It is a quick read for a pre-teen or teenager. It might be helpful for a sibling to see how others in their age group learn about autism through trial and error.
Although the reader had some insight into the special talents of Susan, it was not really made clear why she needed the special school far away from home. It almost seemed like since Mrs. Felder was having another baby that they shipped off Susan so they could be the family they had wanted.
This book is from 1990 and attitudes were different regarding disabilities and autism.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not one of Ann M. Martin's best, July 31, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Kristy and the Secret of Susan (Baby-Sitters Club) (Library Binding)
This book was pretty good and worth my time, but the text is false in the leading that autistic people cannot be reached, though many autistic persons do have a(some) special talent(s), such as Susan's amazing piano ability.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Same Tired Tune, Different Singer, May 27, 2005
I felt this was a highly disappointing and unsatisfactory book about an 8-year-old child who has autism. Kristy, the 13-year-old protagonist in this story baby sits Susan, whose autism is so severe that she does not communicate meaningfully. She has an extraordinary gift for music and can reproduce any song she hears on the piano. She does not play or interact with others.
Other kids soon learn of Susan's musical prowess and charge admission to hear her play. They exploit her talents until Kristy intervenes. Susan can also provide any given date and her mother explains that Susan once saw a perpetual calendar which sparked this interest.
Parts of the book reflected antiquated attitudes and misperceptions about autism. Kristy looks the word up in the dictionary and the definition provided was that it is a form of schizophrenia or withdrawal from reality. Autism is NOT schizophrenia and people with autism don't necessarily "withdraw from reality." Indeed, people with autism often feel bombarded with outside stimuli and develop coping mechanisms to "come even," that is to tone down the sensory onslaught that is so much a part of the autism experience. Suggesting that autism is in any way, shape and form related to schizophrenia has proved very costly to people with autism. Sadly, this kind of thing has caused many people with autism to be misdiagnosed. This in turn has led to many inappropriate treatments and placements being inflicted on people with autism! This kind of thing does not help anybody and has harmed many.
This book is not meant to be a diagnostic tool, but I wish autism had been defined in a more accurate way. Rest assured, autism is NOT a disease but a neurobiological condition that affects sensory integration and communication based on the individual. I for one am good and tired of seeing characters with autism being portrayed as having savant abilities. That only applies to roughly less than 10% of the autistic population and I can't help but wonder if this story just reinforces those stereotypes of people with autism to the neurotypical population. Same old tired tune, just a different performer.
To the author's credit, no promises are made. Susan is by the close of the story enrolled in a residential program for autistic children. I did feel the story was extremely weak. I also wondered why Susan was sent to a residential school as opposed to a day program in her area.
Read Ann M. Martin's "Inside Out" instead. That is a much better book by this author about a child who has autism. At least James is a Beatles' fan!
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