The Small Outsider

While reading, I tried to put myself into the mother's position, David's mother. I felt numerous emotions came over me, but the main one was exhaustion. Every once in a while, David would just fight with his mother when she told tell him to sit or calm down. He would scream and scratch her, and it made her feel as if  there was no communication between a mother and her child. One day, they decided to go to the pool and Ellen, David's older sister, was so excited. She swam, kicked, and splashed and was far away from David.  I also learned that David didn't want to meet anyone else at the pool because when children came over, he began to get upset and splash at them. His mother tried her best to tell the children to leave David alone but they wouldn't listen. Then, one child splashed back at David. David screamed and began banging his head against the floor. His mother knew it was time to go home and called Ellen to come over. Ellen was upset, she didn't want to leave the pool, but she knew she had to. She was worried about her younger brother. David apparently didn't want to go home either. He began to scream and he clung onto the rungs of the pool as his mother and Ellen tried to pull him off so they could go home. People at the pool began to watch and stare in shock. Ellen felt even worse, because people were staring at her and they didn't understand the condition David was in. David's mother decided that people should know about autistic children so she and her friends decided to write a book about little David called, "The Small Outsider."

The Small Outsider

In the book, The Small Outsider, I have learned many things about autism. One of the theories for why someone might have an autistic child is because the parent is not very fond of the child but I strongly disagree.   Even though a child and a parent may not have a very strong connection, this doesn't mean that the child will have a  disorder. Some parents can have a strong connection with a child and later find out that their child has autism. I also learned that most autistic children have brain damage and that their emotions will change differently than other people's emotions. For example, an autistic child may laugh while everyone else in the room might be crying because of a terrible event. I also learned that David has quite a few allergies. David is allergic to peanut butter, eggshells, and a specific type of plant. When he would touch or smell these specific items, he would begin to swell and it would be harder and harder for him to breathe. Sometimes, when I think of allergies, the first thing I think of is a little girl explaining a long list of items that she can't have or even smell. This little girl would always remain calm and know exactly what to do in case of an emergency. David on the other hand, wasn't calm. As his mother was taking him to the doctor, he kept fussing until he took something that made the swelling stop. David was turning out to be a handful and David's mother kept getting letters saying that she should come and visit her father but she simply didn't have the time. When she finally started thinking about it, it was too late. Her father had passed away. She wanted to go to her father's funeral, but she was concerned about David so she wasn't able to come.

The Small Outsider

I have just found out that David has eczema. It was horrible. Every time he touched something, his skin would peel off and he would bleed. Also, his diet changed. Until he was four, his milk would be boiled for twenty minutes. He would have all of his foods blended in a blender and he would drink it in a bottle. David's mood would change quite a bit and there was never a particular routine. There could be a day where he decides to chuckle for a couple of hours straight and another day where he wants to be completely quiet for a couple of hours. David's sister, Ellen, didn't care and loved him just the way he was but his brother Roley, was a bit uneasy about David. David also kept growing, making some furniture too small. It was good that his father knew how to make furniture.

The Small Outsider

 In the book, The Small Outsider, I have learned that David's mother immediately felt that something was wrong with her child before and after labor. She had noticed that he would not look directly at her, he was not enthusiastic about eating, when he dropped something he wouldn't watch it fall to the ground, and the times that he would sleep would be different compared to her other children. The two main things that David loved were music and water. She would try to talk to the doctors about how unusual David acts, but they all said he was a healthy, beautiful baby.  I wonder what she is going to do next because she knows something is wrong with her child. If she doesn't do something now, that problem she was worrying about later on could affect his future. By reading the summary, I already know what the problem is, but I still wonder when she felt something was wrong, why didn't she continue to tell a doctor and talk about the weird events that have been happening so maybe they could have done something about it?

The Small Outsider

I am starting a new book called The Small Outsider by Joan Martin Hundley. I am starting the first chapter today and I already know that the main character has been going through many problems just by looking at the cover. It's a picture of a young child with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped, staring at the ground. I read the summary and it really made me feel upset to know about what the child was facing and the problems that he will meet or have already met on his journey through life. The book is about a boy named David who learns that he has a disorder called autism and how he fights through life.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Over the summer, I read the book The Round House by Louise Erdrich. Two of the sentences that I pulled from her book was a quote that just blew me away. The statement was, " The shock of it reached me. She sees the murderer in me, I thought."(Erdrich 293) These two sentences are so powerful because to actually know that you have killed someone and to see the fear in someone's eyes who knew what you have done is just terrifying. I've seen in movies how people look at other people who are "murderers". Their eyes are full of fear and shock. Imagine that you are the actual person who was being thought of as the "murderer" and someone you know is staring at you with the same eyes of fear and shock as they are in the movies. Except that in the movies, they were acting but in your situation, it's actually happening.

The theme of this book was to always think before you do. Every little decision you make can impact your life. From what color crayon you want use, to which house you want to buy. Some decisions just impact your life longer than others do. That certain light blue crayon that you want to use probably won't impact your life as much as the cost of the house you want to buy and live in for a couple of years or maybe even for the rest of your life. Decisions also impact others around you, not just you. If you break a cookie and share it with someone, you had just brightened your day and someone else's day as well. But if you drop your cookie on accident, give your cookie to someone and they find out that you had given them a cookie that had fallen on the floor, you just ruined someone's day and it may ruin yours too. The main character Joe, definitely changed throughout the book. At first, he was a happy thirteen year-old kid who only wanted to make his father and mother proud of him. That is until his mother was attacked by someone Joe didn't even know. At that time all he wanted was revenge on the person who had attacked his mother. In the end, Joe got what he wanted, but I don't think him, his friends, or his family will ever be the same again. From the mother's perspective, everything was fine until she got attacked. I believe she knew who the attacker was but decided not to tell anyone. The day she was attacked will haunt her dreams forever. She knew that her son wants revenge, but she wanted an adult or the police to find and handle the criminal that wanted to kill her. She just wanted all of her fears, her pain, and her sorrows to just wash away as if they had never happened. And towards the end of the book, she felt that her son was keeping something from her. She felt a burden that she must carry with her, a giant crack in her heart that will take a long time to heal. Always think before you do because if you don't, it may lead to bad results. Joe wanted revenge, just something to be done to the "criminal" and instead of letting the adults handle the problem, he decided to handle it himself. This action will lead to severe consequences. This article will give you a summary of the book. It also tells you their opinion about Joe and what he is going through. Click for the link.