In So Many Words

The Review

One book that has been on my nightstand for quite a while is Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives by Cathleen Lewis. I had seen Rex on a 60 Minutes profile just days before I was contacted by Thomas Nelson about receiving a review copy, so I was very interested in learning more about his story.

Throughout the book, Ms. Lewis shares her thoughts and feelings as she navigates the world of doctors and specialists, special education teachers and therapists, and they parallel what many parents of special needs children have dealt with in our own journeys. Some people get it and others don’t, even those who are supposed to, unfortunately.

The thing that struck me as I read was that, although Rex’s physical problems started before birth with a cyst in his brain and continued once he was born with blindness caused by optic nerve hypoplasia, his difficulties in social communication are what pose the biggest challenge in his life.

The turning point for Rex is when he is given a keyboard and his phenomenal musical ability is discovered. As his mother puts it,

Music was Rex’s heart, his soul, the special gift God had given him to communicate like no other. It was his language–his grace. I would keep fighting the external battles of our lives, trying to push back the clouds of our existence, but his was an internal battle, and the look on his face said his spirit was winning.

And Now, the Giveaway

I would love to pass on this inspiring book to encourage someone else, so I am going to give it away here on my blog. I will also be giving away my copy of A Friend Like Henry, which I reviewed back in September, to a second winner. Here’s how it’s going to work:

• To be entered in the random drawing, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and share one of your favorite inspirational books (it does not have to be about someone with a disability.)
• You can earn another entry by tweeting about this giveaway; just leave another comment with your twitter username once you have done so.
• Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm Eastern Time on Sunday, April 5th, and the winner will be announced on Monday, April 6th. US mailing addresses only.

For more What’s On Your Nightstand, visit 5 Minutes for Books.

I recently had the opportunity, as a member of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers, to receive a copy of a never before published book by Margaret Wise Brown. Most of you are probably familiar with this author, who wrote many children’s classics such as Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.

The new book is called The Moon Shines Down, and it was discovered in an old cedar trunk many years after Brown’s death. It was finished for publication by children’s book publisher Laura Minchew and is beautifully illustrated by Linda Bleck.

I found the book to be utterly captivating, drawing you in through the charming rhymes and vivid drawings as it takes you on a trip around the world. In each country you visit, the children are shown playing or sleeping beneath the moon; except in the Far East, where it is daytime and the children are on their way to school.

Of course, the real test was whether my son would like it. Although he seemed to feel it was a bit long, he really enjoyed seeing which animals and scenery would be pictured for each of the different countries, as well as commenting on how the people were dressed. He also liked the adorable koala that leads you through the book until finally falling asleep himself on the last page!

The refrain on the last page sums up the message of the book, which is based on an old children’s prayer:

I see the Moon
And the Moon sees me.
God bless the Moon
And God bless me.

A nice reminder that God sees us all and we are all connected. And who doesn’t need that?

One of the non-mommy, non-autism blogs I stumbled on a few months ago and have enjoyed reading is From Where I Sit by Michael Hyatt, the President & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing.

I was especially excited a couple of weeks ago to read about their new Book Review Program for Bloggers. They are trying to get a pool of 10,000 bloggers signed up in a variety of categories.

You can request one book at a time (I was offered six choices for my first one) and the requirements are to read the entire book and write a review of at least 200 words and post it on both your blog and on a consumer site such as Amazon. In return, you get the book for free, content resources for your blog post, and an external link from their site to your blog.

If you think this sounds like fun, here’s the link to Become a Book Review Blogger.