Spinning straw: The Jeff Apple story [Mass Market Paperback]

Phyllis J.D Green (Author), Phyllis J. D. Green (Author), Patricia M. Apple (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Diverse City Press; 1st edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896230148
• ISBN-13: 978-1896230146
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visualize the lifeblood flowing through slices of endurance., May 26, 1999

By 

Katherine "Kat" (Hammond, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spinning straw: The Jeff Apple story (Mass Market Paperback)

Author Phyllis Green's almost irritatingly breathless prose guides us on the relentless journey with the Apple family. In the sixties, Jeff Apple's disability could not be found in text books. Spinning Straw is perhaps the only biography of an autistic child who is a severe self-injurer. From the age of two-and-a-half, Jeff Apple assaults his own body.

Autism is probably the third most common developmental disability. Over 500,000 individuals in the U.S. have some form of autism - identified as a communication disorder that makes it hard to communicate verbally or nonverbally with the outside world. Typical signs are repeated body movements, unusual responses to people or attachments to objects, a resistance to non routine environments, and sometimes, aggressive behavior or self-injurious behavior. [The latter is officially known as "SIB."]

An articulate wordsmith, Green, helps Mother Pat Apple share the family's heartache as Jeff's self-violent behavior gets worse. The Apple family becomes submerged into an unknown world, a world with little comprehension. We are inspired through the endurance and determination of the Apple family's everyday life.

Despite Jeff Apple's overpowering urge to self-destruct, he provides subsequent insight into the meaning of humanity. This true story stimulates readers to appreciate the true quality of life. In Spinning Straw, the writer delves into a human experience teaching us more about the human condition.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Spinning Straw" has a sense of reality rarely captured, February 26, 2000

By 

Susan Flanakin (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spinning straw: The Jeff Apple story (Mass Market Paperback)

Art does not usually imitate life. We usually finish reading a book or viewing a movie and we feel disappointed in life, as though we've been cheated from the media's idea of dramatic, yet glamorous lives. We sometimes even draw in because the half-truths told by film and novels tell us we are odd and unacceptable when we or our circumstances aren't perfect.

"Spinning Straw" is different. It is cathartic because it tells the whole story of life. Some of the pictures Phyllis Green paints of Pat Apple's story of her son and family are so lovely you feel the depth of beauty the sun has when peering out of a cloudy sky. Other word pictures hurt your heart they are so sad. But what would life be without its ups and downs? "Spinning Straw" remembers that in order to truly feel we have to feel both pain and ecstatic joy. We do not get to pick one or the other. And I promise you, when you finish reading "Spinning Straw"-- and you will once you start it-- you will agree that life is worth the chance of sadness when happiness is allowed as well, as the story of little Jeff Apple is filled with both extremes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spinning Straw .. an affirmation of life, October 25, 2001

By 

"dieudonnee" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spinning straw: The Jeff Apple story (Mass Market Paperback)

In this book, the quality of the human spirit shows itself in it's mightiest face...that of unconditional love. Beautifully written, eloquent in it's reality, the author takes us right there. We are in the Apple's home & lives...we smell the bacon on that first day...& then we feel the first suspicions along with Jeff's mother. Ultimately, we feel the love, the hope, the frustration, the fear & sadly, the grief. We are there in the silent moments, the sunny moments, the despairing moments & the final moments. Our hearts go out to the Apples, their courage, fortitude & dignity...but most of all for their love. No parent should let this book pass them by, no parent who picks this book up will put it down, particularly any parents of special children. This book is for every caring human being, parent or not, as they will not, can not, walk away from it untouched .. or uninspired.
On a personal note, I was told I should read this book with with a box of tissues to hand. Being a person not much inclined to tears, I took that advice with a grain of salt. My mistake. The only salt around me when I read Spinning Straw was in my eyes & on my face, as it is at this moment recalling the book as I write this review. A "must read".
To Patricia Apple, a woman of indomitable courage & to Phyllis Green, who weaves words into pictures, all my respects.