Buy used: $1.36

$3.99 delivery November 21 - 28. Details

Or fastest delivery November 15 - 18. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by more-than-words

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Ouisie Shapiro

Autism and Me: Sibling Stories Hardcover – March 1, 2009

by Ouisie Shapiro (Author), Steven Vote (Photographer)

39 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$1.36

$15.95

$1.36

"If you see a kid with autism on the street, don't yell at her if she's doing something wrong. She can't help it. Autism is really challenging," explains Christian, who tells about life with his sister, Mary Gwen, a beautiful girl who loves to swim. In these moving essays, Christian and many other kids tell what it's like to live with siblings who have autism. Sometimes they can't talk much. Sometimes they have tantrums. It can be tough for a family, but there are happy surprises, too. "Autism has helped us to become a better family," adds Christian. "It teaches us patience and understanding." Ouisie Shapiro's inspiring book shows how children - and all of us - can grow in wisdom, acceptance, and love. Steven Vote's warm photos capture the rich emotional life of these amazing families.

Reading age

8 - 11 years
Print length

32 pages
Language

English
Grade level

2 - 7
Lexile measure

AD630L
Dimensions

8 x 0.5 x 10.25 inches
Publisher

Albert Whitman & Company
Publication date

March 1, 2009
ISBN-10

0807504874
ISBN-13

978-0807504871
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—Using photos of family members and the words of children as young as six, Shapiro shows the ups and downs of life with someone who has autism. The youngsters' voices are honest and realistic: "I was kind of embarrassed." "Sometimes I get ticked when Mary Gwen hits and screams." If anything about Jesse changed, "he wouldn't be Jesse anymore, and I would miss the old Jesse." Some of them sound a bit preachy: "You should respect people with autism for who they are." However, the children's emotions ring true, telling what they love about their sibling; the preaching comes from their hearts. This book would be useful in families and in classrooms to help explain both the struggles and the triumphs of living with someone who has this disorder.—Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

There is much focus today on children with autism, but many of those kids have brothers and sisters. How does their siblings’ autism affect them? This attempts to answer that question through interviews with the non-autistic child in more than 10 sibling pairs, with color photographs of the kids interacting. Written in the first person, the essays tell of brothers who behave differently and “can’t do things,” sisters who aren’t able to speak, and children who throw tantrums and are made fun of by others. But as the narrators tell us, these are also kids who are doing the “best they can.” Underlying all the essays are feelings of resignation to the situation even as the children point out moments of hope and appreciation. They also display a commitment to understanding what their brothers and sisters are going through and recognize that having an autistic sibling stretches their sense of empathy. Thoughtful fare for a wide age range. Grades 3-6. --Ilene Cooper

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Albert Whitman & Company (March 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807504874
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807504871
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 11 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD630L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 2 - 7
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.5 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,433,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,666 in Children's Books on Diseases & Physical Illness
- #3,168 in Children's Books on Disabilities
- #8,643 in Children's Siblings Books (Books)

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Ouisie Shapiro

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		66%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star		7%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

A heartwarming, chatty book that shows the love siblings have for one another ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2022

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Everyone is a bit different than the next person. Some people have curly hair while others have straight and then again there are people who don’t have any at all. There are many physical differences and as many personality differences to match. There are all kinds of things that make up a person and make them into a very unique individual, someone unlike the next person. Have you noticed there are some kids in your school or perhaps in your classroom that behave a bit differently than everyone else? Perhaps they yell at inopportune times, do funny things with their hands, throw things or even try to bite other people. You may be looking at another unique individual who has autism.

You know, these kids may be very similar to you on the inside, but on the outside they act differently. In this book you will read about some of them and a brother or sister who loves them very much, even though at times they might get a bit frustrated with their sibling and not like them at all (but that is only for a short time!). You’ll meet fourteen kids who will talk to you about their brother or sister who has autism. Faith says she and her brother Justin play a lot and “don’t fight much.” Deia says she gets “frustrated with Amaya,” her sister. Anthony says his brother “pushes people and punches them.” Christian says his sister Mary Gwen likes him, but “it would be nice to hear what she has to say.” One thing for sure, is that all the brothers and sisters in this book love their sibling with autism!

I loved this heartwarming and chatty book and read through it a few times. Obviously the “essays” are edited, but the emotions each child has for his or her sibling bursts through the pages with aplomb. Each child, although they may have issues with their autistic sibling, has strong feelings for him or her. The photography is amazing and captures the loving feelings they have for one another. Christian says that “autism has helped us to become a better family.” Perhaps the more we know about autism the better we will become as a family to those around us, disabled or not.

Helpful

Beutiful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2022

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

This is a beautiful look at the siblings growing up with an autistic brother or sister. There is an honesty here, a compassion, and so much love. I was worried it was going to be something of a voyeristic book, but it's not. It's more a message to try to help understand what these kids are going through and how best to relate to them. This one will stay with me a long time.

Helpful

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

As an adult Aspie, I like this book -- especially the photos!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 8, 2009

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I have a somewhat different POV about this book than a lot of the reviewers here, because I am an adult on the autism spectrum. So I'm not looking at it so much as an educator but rather, as an Aspie. Do I see myself in any of these children? Yes. (I especially related to Jesse's fixation on phones. My special interest as a kid was insects. I still have a big collection of rubber bugs!)

This book is about siblings, but I'm not so sure that's the audience the book is really aimed at. My impression is that these sibs are trying to get their neurotypical (NT) peers to be more tolerant of their autistic brothers and sisters. Quite a few of the stories mention teasing or misunderstanding:

Introduction: "You can help kids with autism by not teasing them or letting other kids tease them. They deserve our respect."

Amber: "Some people think kids like Ravi are stupid because they have trouble learning. That makes me mad."

Amy: "[In the restaurant] Some people gave us dirty looks and we had to go home. He has autism, what's the big deal?"

Troy: [When Sam gave the announcement in school] "He talks in a high voice and people in my class were laughing at him..."

Clearly these are messages aimed at would-be bullies asking them to stop doing it. (Heaven knows, I was bullied enough back in the 1950s when Aspergers was not even on the radar. I know what it feels like.) The last story ends the book with, "You should respect people with autism for who they are." Amen.

I also don't "get" all the people here who say the stories are too syrupy sweet. I saw plenty of places where kids talked about their autistic sibs breaking things, throwing tantrums, getting into their stuff, going in their rooms without asking, screaming and making scenes in public, etc. And the sibs do admit to anger or embarrassment. True, nobody says, "Sometimes I'd like to kill my little brother" -- but then, if you are writing a book about tolerance, you don't want to focus on your own meltdown moments. I think we all know that brothers and sisters fight, get jealous, feel anger, etc. without having to spell it out in every book we write.

I also find it interesting that so many reviewers focused on the text. For me, the real value is in the pictures. Maybe this is because Ouisie Shapiro, the author, is a television producer, so she is used thinking in pictures. And Stephen Vote, the photographer, has done a wonderful job of capturing autistic children doing ordinary kid things. As another reviewer said here, if you don't read the captions and stories, it is hard to tell which child is autistic. I like that. It sends a clear message to NTs that autistic kids are just that -- kids. I love looking at these photos.

This book goes a long way toward offsetting the often negative images of autism we see in the media. Like that awful PETA "Got Autism?" billboard campaign with the frowny face in a bowl of milk, exploiting autism to try and scare people into giving up milk for animal rights. Whether or not there really is a connection between autism and lactose intolerance, I do not know, but these images are hurtful. So are all those documentaries showing autistics having meltdowns, banging their heads against the wall - -this is the picture many NTs carry of us. So the "normalness" of the photos in this book is much needed to help offset those stereotypes.

True, this might not be a book that a child would read over and over, but then, do YOU read YOUR informational books over and over? As an educational tool or a library book, it can fill an important niche even if it's not "Cat in the Hat." I can easily imagine this book being used in a lesson on tolerance. The pictures are big and bright enough to hold up in front of the class.

Now for a few complaints: Like others here, I do think the book was rather short for its price and target age group. Granted, color printing is now very expensive, but there could have been a few more stories. There also could have been some background info and resource references in the back for teachers and parents. And I found the thin script-like type font difficult to stay focused on. For these things I give it 4 stars instead of five. But all in all, I like the book very much.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful