Customer Reviews

Window Boy

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4 star:		(2)
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'Window Boy' is a fantastic introduction into the life of my Great-Grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill. It completely encapsulates the principals of 'NEVER SURRENDER!' and 'DETERMINATION!' that he lived by. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 'Window Boy' is a must read for any person of any age, especially a Churchill fan.

As a grandparent of four grandsons I began to read the book with a sceptical eye. Thinking that the topic of an early adolescent boy with cerebral palsy who has an inpoverished single mother would be depressing I brought a cup of tea and a box of chocolate truffles to the sofa table to 'help me get through' the book. Although I did indulge in the truffles I needed nothing to get me through this interesting and fast moving 'read'. Andrea White has a deft understanding both of the mind and emotions of an preadolescent boy and of the power of people who love and believe in someone to empower that person to cope with and overcome obstacles. This book is a little bit of a fantasy-- with a lot of historical Churcillian 'tidbits'delightfully worked into the story line, But the book is also realistic and optimistic enough that I, who as an academic focused on child development, have purchased several copies of this book and sent them to friends who have a child with cerebral palsy in their families. Window Boy is a book written for children and teen age readers but it is also an important book to be read by adults who work with CP children and by those who interact with them. And, of course, the book should be read by all who love such individuals.

I read Window Boy over the weekend and LOVED it. Sad and uplifting. The depiction of Sam, locked in a body with an active mind, so misunderstood broke my heart. Add to that a self-absorbed mother and it was almost too much. But the nanny and the comparison to Churchill's heartbreaking childhood brought hope to the story, as did the evolution of the teacher's feelings for Sam. And I liked that Sam is an extreme version of all of us - wishing at least someone would really know us and not just see us. This book was an ispiration to me - a reminder to persevere, to be kind and to look beneath the surface. It will inspire children - especially those for whom school and life are not a cakewalk. I've ordered five for some youngsters in my life.

Window Boy is almost an excellent book. 12-year-old Sam Davis is the window boy, a brilliant but misunderstood genius with cerebral palsy, who spends his time parked in his wheelchair in front of his window, watching other kids play basketball. The book realistically highlights the difficulties of cerebral palsy, from the constant annoyance of being ignored or talked over to a very moving scene when Sam is left alone in the apartment and almost attacked by a rat. But everything that happens to Sam only almost happens to him. He is only almost denied an education. He is only almost abandoned in an institution. His mother only almost dumps him. His good luck always bails him out, his extraordinary good luck and great brain. His nurse/nanny gets a job at the institution so she can continue to look after him. He wins a national essay contest worth $1000 - at least $6000 in today's money. His mother reforms her ways.

Nonetheless, White does present fresh and vivid material in Window Boy. How Sam is hampered by his cerebral palsy is very clearly drawn. Miss Perkins, his caretaker, lived through the bombing in London during World War II, and her character is beautifully rendered. Best of all his Miss Perkins' contribution to Sam's intellectual life, her reading to him out of the life of Winston Churchill. Sam internalizes Churchill's words, and Churchill's voice speaks to him during the action throughout the story. The pleasure of reading Churchill's phrases gives Window Boy a unique dimension that will be enjoyed by the more sensitive reader.

Don't you love finding a book that draws you back to re-read it almost immediately? Besides the second read, I've gone back, this month, to the "Afterward" of WINDOW BOY a third time! Like our hero, Sam Davis, I want to learn more and more about the unique strength and humanity of Winston Churchill. So, I'll definitely tune in to the new PBS three part series "Chasing Churchill: Searching for My Grandfather."
I had to laugh seeing that the author, like me, also wanted to follow the fictional characters a few more years, and see them again. Sam and Miss Perkins speak with such recognizable voices (like old friends) when we fast forward and hear them reflect. Almost inspite of myself, I had to love gabby, fussy, old (50 is old through 6th grade eyes!) Miss Perkins and her uplifting love: her vital, relentless devotion to a disabled boy who was, perhaps, less obviously able to "earn" it than most of us. Also heartening, this personal portrait shows how far inclusion for handicapped children has come in forty years, especially in the public schools.

Andrea White has inspired this adult (who has no obvious disability) and will inspire any number of my youthful clients. For, WINDOW BOY is now a much enjoyed addition to our waiting room.

Thank you, Ms. White.

Mark Leifeste, Child Psychiatrist, Boulder, CO.

Sam, 12 lives with his single mother in a Boston suburb. Sam has cerebral palsy and needs a wheelchair as his mobility is quite limited. He has a very kind nurse named Miss Perkins who takes care of him during the day.

The Beatles play a role in this story, which is set in 1968. Sam's mother sings "Yellow Submarine;" several neighborhood kids discuss the Beatles and Sam even balks at having a haircut as boys were growing their hair at that time. His barber, a kind neighborhood fixture sympathizes with Sam, telling him that he understands that long hair for boys is the au courant fashion. The Beatles were fashion icons and their hair, considered quite long at the time inspired many to sport similar coiffure.

A delightful Londoner, Miss Perkins leaves Merry Old England for New England and is completely devoted to Sam. Born in 1918, the year of the Flu Epidemic, she enters the nursing profession after witnessing traumatic deaths and injuries during WWII. She also has an unflagging respect for Churchill, England's prime minister. Her love for Churchill is passed along to Sam. (Later in the book, Miss Perkins says she is 56, but she could not be 56 in 1968). She reads to him about the Prime Minister and his instrumental role during the war. Sam, a very bright boy learns a lot about the man for whom nobody held out any hope during his boyhood. Churchill, like Sam had a very kind nanny who instilled a belief in himself to accomplish many goals.

In turn, Churchill inspires Sam. Sam often has imaginary conversations with the former Prime Minister, culling quotes from speeches and using them in his "conversations." In each such conversation, Churchill tells Sam that he has goals - to get one local boy, later to become his classmate on the neighborhood basketball team.

One of Sam's goals is to play basketball and attend the local junior high. Every day he watches a motley group of neighborhood boys shoot hoops and years to join them. He spends much of his free time watching people out of his window. Luckily for Sam, his resourceful nurse and mother are able to get him enrolled in the local school.

Sam, despite his mobility issues fits in to a large extent. His teacher, not prepared to take on a student with special mobility needs almost writes him off until Miss Perkins proves to her that Sam is indeed bright and up to speed gradewise. When Sam's teacher Mrs. Martin announces that the class will be doing a unit on WWII, Sam lights up. He, with Miss Perkins' help lets her know that he is quite interested in Churchill and would like to include Churchill in the unit. Using his alphabet board and saying a few words that are easier for him to pronounce, Sam makes himself heard and luckily Mrs. Martin really listens to him. He even makes friends with some of his more tolerant classmates.

Unfortunately not everybody listens to Sam, his nurse or teacher. The school principal railroads Sam by calling him into his office and making him sound as if he is unable to speak or be part of the classes he attends. Sam's mother sets the wheels in motion to have Sam institutionalized courtesy of a male friend she is dating. Miss Perkins fights this tooth and toenail, only to bade Sam a sorrowful goodbye upon his admission.

Sadly, Sam serves several weeks in Mannville, which is just a warehouse for boys with a myriad of special needs. The place sounded like a genuine hellhole and luckily for Sam, Churchill and....a few others come through for him.

The Beatles' 1967 classic "I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends" could well be the soundtrack of this stellar book.

*The main characters are given a turn at bat at the end of this book in an afterword devoted to them. Readers can ride that train with the characters to see how their lives turned out in the intervening years. A post-script chapter on the author, Andrea White; the people and their stories who inspired this work and an account of an actual school make this a very effective book. Andrea White is a genius. It's as simple as that.

Out of My Mind is an excellent companion book to this one.

I work with young adults with CP. We are reading this book in our small group and the residents are truly enjoying it. One reason they like it is that they can readily identify with the "window boy". Many of the books I have chosen over the years has caused half the group to fall asleep--literally. What is truly amazing about this book is that it holds everyone with rapt attention. The only other book with this kind of power was Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J Fox.