review: It's Time by Judith Mammay

Note: The only place I've been able to find this book for sale online is Barnes and Noble.


It's Time by Judith Mammay. Illustrated by Todd Fargo. Turtle Books, 2007 (978-0-944727-20-1) $9.95 pb

It's Time follows a school day in the life of Tommy, an autistic boy "mainstreamed" in a regular classroom. Tommy has a hard time when people touch him, it's too noisy, or the routine gets changed, and sometimes that leads to screaming and tantrums. But Tommy doesn't want to scare the other kids in his class, so he is doing his best to keep calm and use his words.

It's Time stands out amongst most other autism books for being from the autistic child's perspective, and Mammay does a nice job of showing how hard Tommy is working not to melt down and demonstrating the tools he uses, like asking "what will happen?" when there's a scary change in routine. The sometimes negative responses of the other children in the class are also depicted; they are reminded by their teacher that "it is Tommy's autism that makes him do this" and encouraged to help him by being quieter when it's too noisy for him.

An artificially high note at the end of the story is a bit jarring--"After that, whenever there was a change, Tommy did better using his words"--but my main problem with this book is the pen & ink and watercolor illustrations, which are unattractive , stilted and oddly proportioned, not maintaining much character consistency from page to page. Insets of a mouse at the bottom of the pages, intended to demonstrate what Tommy is feeling inside, just come off as gimmicky since they basically show the same emotions already shown in the illustrations. Perhaps they would have seemed to have more kid-appeal to me if they were more attractively drawn.

It's Time may be of interest to autistic kids, but its main audience will probably be classrooms like Tommy's, that need some understanding of an autistic child's needs. I actually think the story is inherently interesting enough to have a more general appeal, if the book was redesigned and reillustrated. (6-10)

review: Tacos Anyone?/Alguien Quiere Tacos?

Tacos Anyone?/Alguien Quiere Tacos? by Marvie Ellie. Illustrated by Jenny Loehr. Speech Kids, 2005 (978-933319-02-5) $16.95

Thomas is sad because his little brother Michael, who has autism, doesn't like to play with him. But after seeing Michael work with his therapist, Thomas understands better what Michael enjoys and happily "makes tacos" by rolling him in sofa cushions. "It was the first time Michael and I had played together in a long time." A final illustration shows the two boys smiling on the cushions together, about to play with one of the wooden peg puzzles Michael likes.

Narrated by Thomas (with text in both Spanish and English,) this story describes a lot of the activities occupational therapists use with children with autism and sensory needs: learning sign language, bouncing on balls, blowing whistles, and so on. Its obvious audience is brothers and sisters of autistic kids, and they may find it helps them think of ways to relate to their challenging siblings. I really like the happiness and promise of the ending, but the rest of the story might be a little dry to appeal to a more general audience; it could also use some notes for readers who aren't familiar with these activities and might wonder what they're all about.

Unsophisticated illustrations have strongly defined features and lots of crayon or colored pencil shading; it's not a style I find very attractive, but again, I like the enthusiasm depicted, as Michael eagerly says "Tado!" with an enormous smile. (5-8)