Kristy's newest baby-sitting charge is Susan Felder, who goes away to a special school. Susan isn't like most kids. While she can play the piano and sing beautifully... she can't talk to anyone. Susan is autistic. She lives locked inside her own secret world.
Kristy thinks it's unfair that Susan has to be sent off to school and is treated differently from everyone else. But Kristy's going to try to change that - by showing everyone that Susan's a "regular" kid, too. And then maybe Kristy' new friend can stay in Stoneybrook for good.
Kristy finds herself with a one month job of looking after Susan Felder. At first, Kristy's confused: she remembers Mr and Mrs Felder from when she lived across the street from Claudia, but she doesn't ever remember them having a child. Well, that's because Susan is severely autistic and normally goes to a special boarding school. However, the Felders are in the process of transferring her to another school, so in the meantime, Susan is home for a month. Since Mrs Felder has to take care of her 24/7 for this month, and since Susan is so severely autistic, Mrs Felder is looking for someone to watch her for 2 hours three times a week, while she goes grocery shopping, runs errands, and takes a moment to breathe.
At first, Kristy can't believe what she's hearing: Susan's own mother needs a break from her child? And they can't wait to send Susan away? Nope, not on Kristy's watch! Kristy decides to make it her personal mission to get Susan some friends and convince the Felders that Susan belongs in Stoneybrook. But Kristy soon realizes that Susan is worse than Kristy thought she was: Susan doesn't speak and doesn't interact or acknowledge others; in fact, the only time Susan seems to respond is when she's playing piano or reciting dates from memory.
Undeterred, Kristy starts taking Susan out and into the neighbourhood. She figures that Susan can bond with the Hobart boys, because they too have no friends and are teased for being different. The Hobarts are great, and talk to Susan as much as they can, James in particular, but it doesn't make a difference: Susan is still unresponsive. Kristy thinks Susan just needs to make more friends. Kristy is thrilled when people start knocking on Susan's door when Kristy is sitting, wanting to see Susan, but Kristy soon finds out that one of the neighbourhood boys (one of the ones bullying the Hobarts) has been charging kids a dollar to go see Susan do her tricks.
Kristy even looks into the special education class at her own school, where there's students with Down's Syndrome, and students with cerebral palsy, and even students who are deaf. Kristy does everything she can think of. Finally, it's the end of the month, and Kristy is helping Mrs Felder pack up Susan's things. They have a conversation, and Kristy realizes just how much the Felders love Susan, and how hard it is for them to send her away. Kristy learns more about how Susan was as a baby and her development (or lack thereof). The final straw is when Kristy takes Susan out for a walk, and Susan wets her pants and does not even react. It's at that moment that Kristy realizes just how severe Susan's condition is, and how much better it'll be for everyone for Susan to go to her special program.
Kristy says good-bye to Susan, and sees her off as her family leaves to drive her to school. She learns that the Felders are expecting another girl, and wishes them well. Kristy admits to Mr Felder that she thought she could fix Susan, and Mr Felder is surprisingly supportive. Overall, everyone agrees that it's best for Susan to go away, and the Felders turn towards planning their future with the new baby.
The subplot in this one is that the Hobart family moves into Mary Anne's old house. The Hobarts consist of Ben (11), James (8), Matthew (6) and Johnny (4). They're from Australia and are having a hard time fitting in in Stoneybrook. Kids make fun of the way they speak, from their accents to their slang, and keep comparing them to Crocodile Dundee. Eventually though, the kids realize that the Hobarts are just like Americans: they dress the same way and like the same things. The Hobarts find acceptance, and Mallory finds herself a new boyfriend haha
Random Thoughts:
- I was not looking forward to this book. It was never particularly one of my favourites as a child, and now that I'm an adult and more educated in special needs students, and now that the world is more politically correct than it used to be, I knew this was going to be tough. I was right. It totes did not age well.
- In addition to just the really vague descriptions of autism, just so much of it is outdated. We've made huge strides in understanding autism in the past 20 years or so. Plus it doesn't really do a good job of conveying that Susan is severely autistic, not just austic.
- It also bothers me that Kristy thinks she can "save" Susan, but at the same time, these girls seem to think they can save everyone and that they know best for everything, so maybe it's not really that big of a deal that she does it here too haha
- I was really surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be: on page 31, Kristy mentions that Susan is autistic, but doesn't understand what it means. Claudia responds, "Retarded?" Ah the 1980s... In fact, that word is everywhere in this book, especially used to describe people with Down's Syndrome.
- On a related note: I don't like when people use "retard" and "retarded" as a derogatory term (ie: "Haha look at the retard!" or "Wow, you're so retarded! As if you think that!"), but it does bother me that people seem to think that you can't use the word at all. No, it's a real word, with a real dictionary definition. It means to be slow or delayed. We use it in French ("Je suis en retard." which is "I am running late.") and we use it in music (a ritardando means to slow the music down).
- OMG!!! We just got our first mention that Mallory has red hair! Trust me, I've been searching and reading carefully whenever someone describes Mallory. Aside from her first book (where it's described as "chestnut brown"), the only other descriptions we've had is that it's curly/unruly (she and Nicky both have curly hair, while the rest of the Pikes seem to have straight hair). This is the first time it's legit been described as red: "...Ben was gorgeous. His red hair was much nicer than hers, she thought.") So even though she's been drawn as a red-head, this is the first time she's been described as such. I guess from this moment on, it's official haha
- I have a friend who's Australian. I only met him this year. What sticks out to me about him (other than his accent, of course), is the fact that he speaks so much better than a lot of people his age. I know him through the university I work with, and everyone else I've met through there is your stereotypical 20-something aggro dudebro kind of guy. They always make fun of me for how I speak, because I've always spoken at a highly elevated level. My Australian friend is one of the few people who speaks like me. And of course, all his crazy Aussie slang haha
- On that note, people do tease him, but not for being "Crocodile Dundee", but for being the "Crocodile Hunter". What a difference a decade or two makes haha
- I don't know what to think of the Felders having a baby. I mean, people have babies all the time, so it shouldn't be that much of a shock, but at the same time... feels kinda like a replacement goldfish?? They're even naming the kid "Hope", hoping that she'll be "normal". I know we see Susan and the Felders again in some other book. I can't remember what ends up happening with them (other than Susan being slightly better).
- There's more foreshadowing about Stacey's declining health. Yay continuity! =D
- When discussing name-calling and bullying, Mallory mentions that kids used to tease her and her siblings, calling them spiders (8 kids = 8 legs). Jessi mentions that she's been called plenty of names before, but says that they're not appropriate and quickly changes the subject. I would've liked to have seen more on Jessi and racism. Like, actual realistic racism, like Mallory saw in her first book. Not Jessi just automatically assuming that everyone is racist and blowing things out of proportion.
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