“The Autism Project is thrilled that the Cranston Public Library has agreed to house this collection and that they will become part of the library system so that all families throughout Rhode Island will be able to request them from their local library and have a resource to navigate the complexities of understanding and living with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.” said Joanne G. Quinn, Executive Director of the Autism Project and mother to a child diagnosed with ASD.
We all know by now — don’t we? — that many of the synthetic chemicals in our food, personal-care and cleaning products, toys and household goods are harming not just the environment but ourselves. Body-burden tests, for measuring exposure to chemicals, reveal flame retardants, plasticizers, pesticides and perfluorinated chemicals in the blood of almost every person studied. We see rising rates of some cancers, autoimmune disorders, reproductive illnesses, autism and learning disabilities. Meanwhile, our consumption of synthetic chemicals, a majority of which haven’t been tested for human health impacts, has skyrocketed. A growing number of books make the case that these phenomena are linked.
A Q&A With Author Priscilla GilmanSome books you read and forget about before you've even put it down. Some you cast aside midway through. Every now and then, though, you find a rare gift of a book that continues to move you days, weeks (and those really wonderful ones: years) later. Priscilla Gilman's book is certainly one of those rare ones with the power to move a person days and weeks later. It's too early to tell whether that will remain so, but I strongly suspect it will be one that remains a treasured book years from now for me. And sure, I'm biased: I sense a kindred spirit in Priscilla, a kindred love of words, of poets, of language in general, and for the majesty and transport that the specific melding of words by a skilled craftsman can bring a person. But even if you're not an English instructor (or a lover of Wordsworth), I bet you, too, will be touched by Gilman's journey, by her son Benj and how their family comes to terms with Benj's unique issues and gifts and finds a way for them to all excel and find their places to shine.
(her book remains on my ottoman, close by so that I can grab it and read from it again); you can read this lovely Q&A with Priscilla and leave a comment in order to be entered into a drawing to win your very own The Anti-Romantic Child. Kathleen will draw randomly from a bag with commenter's names from this post one week from today (May 16) and I'll do the same for commenters at the two Counterings and two lucky people will have their own copies!
In the meantime, you can find Priscilla at facebook and twitter or at HarperCollins.
