Life, Animated : : a Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism

Locations
Call Number: 921 Suskind, Owen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	921 Suskind, Owen	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"Imagine being trapped inside a Disney movie and having to learn about life mostly from animated characters dancing across a screen of color. A fantasy? A nightmare? This is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn't speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood. The family was forced to become animated characters, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song; until they all emerge, together, revealing how, in darkness, we all literally need stories to survive"-- Provided by publisher.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Disney to the Rescue! submitted by sdunav on June 12, 2015, 4:57pm Interesting memoir of by a talented reporter about his son with autism. His son's 'thing' was Disney movies, and Owen and his parents were able to use the movies therapeutically - to talk, to work out emotional issues, as a way to meet other kids (and some adults), etc. Really interesting, though the amount of money that they spent boggles the mind a bit. Suskind talks candidly about that, and many other issues concerning schools (mostly private), college, adulthood for autistic people, sibling issues, and a lot more.

Funnily enough (given the huge amount of Disney in the book), Suskind's older son's name is Walt.

Disney and Autism submitted by KSB2013 on July 8, 2016, 8:58am Wow - interesting read.

Congrats to this family for finding the key for communication for their child.

Beautifully written submitted by lballard on June 15, 2018, 3:31pm This is written as well as you’d expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner. It’s a wonderful look at one child with autism and what his family was able to do to assist him. Occasionally it seems a bit out of touch, like when they said they spent “a little bit more than average” for a child with autism. They spent more than $50,000 more. It’s nice for them that that’s “a little” but I don’t think it reflects most people’s reality.