Alex the Boy Book Giveaway Closed

I would like to introduce my new giveaway for an autographed copy of Alex the Boy: Episodes From a Family’s Life With Autism by Jeff Stimpson. I have not read this book, but am happy to be able to have it as a prize for this week’s giveaway. I have copied his press release for you to read in Jeff’s own words what his book is about. You can read it below.

NEW BOOK BY FATHER TEACHES LESSONS OF RAISING AN AUTISTIC SON

Alex is 10. He watches “Elmo”, and he doesn’t talk. He turns down most food and has bolted on the street. Now in 5th grade, he’s just learning to pronounce the days of the week. The only word he can write is his name.

Alex the Boy: Episodes From a Family’s Life With Autism by Jeff Stimpson (Vervante Publishers, paperback, 234 pages, $16.95, at the bookstore of Vervante.com) offers a glimpse into the feelings, frustrations, and hopes that come with living with a child with autism, a condition now affecting 1 out of every 150 kids in the United States. Boy is a sequel to Stimpson’s first book, Alex: The Fathering of a Preemie.

Eating, sleeping, school, public behavior, and other topics are covered, with journal entries broken out by subject.

“Would he still have his sandals on, or would he have taken them off and left them while he strolled on and on?” reads the chapter depicting how Alex got lost alone one day in Central Park. “Would people look at him curiously, try to offer him help, ask his name, then give up when he didn't answer? Would anyone try to take him? Would he go? Such a stranger wouldn't have much chance of enticing Alex anyway unless he also had Saltines and happened to be wearing an Elmo suit. My big fear was that Alex would leave Central Park, get out to Fifth, and be plowed down by a car…”
Study questions are included for book clubs and educators, and Alex the Boy is also available to agencies and organizations at cost if they wish to use it as an incentive gift during membership and fundraising drives.

Stimpson is a frequent speaker to special-needs agencies and to graduate-level classes of special education and early education. “The joy and fear were eye-openers … Jeff gets right down to the nitty-gritty of issues like sleep deprivation, as well as addresses the big issues like fear for the future … It brought to life the perspective of the parent,” said special education graduate students at Fairfield (Conn.) University after one of Stimpson’s recent talks.

With his wife Jill, Stimpson also does podcasts about parenting an autistic son, and maintains an essay site about his family at www.jeffslife.net. He is the author of Alex: The Fathering of a Preemie, which Kirkus Reviews called “a searing chronicle … breath-catchingly evocative of life’s elemental grace and messy dignity,” and which the Idaho State Journal called “a gripping and graceful accounting of being a father.”

This Giveaway will run from February 2, 2009 to February 6, 2009. The winner will be announced on February 7, 2009. Below are rules for entering this giveaway. Good luck.

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