Review: Another gem, and one that embraces an often shunned topic
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2012
I fell in love with the Modern Witch series for what it was - a reminder of the strength and love that true community can bring. Nearly every story focusing on the Witch Central family brings me to tears, and this book was no exception. Yet this book had me crying for unexpected reasons - a main character with an Asperger's diagnosis - amazing. I've spent nearly half my life researching the autism spectrum (which includes Asperger's) and working with kids who've received both the label and the litany of misunderstandings that accompany it. Hundreds of hours spent as therapy partner and sometime nanny to a young boy with autism make me cringe at most characterizations of folks on the autism spectrum in any (all?) media. Yet Debora Geary's characters respond so naturally to both Beth and Jacob that it makes my heart sing. The story not only reminds us that we have to look past the labels we notice, but also look at the labels we've placed (sometimes unknowningly) on ourselves. The journey for Beth, Liri and Nell is one to which all readers can relate. And one that reminds us that often it's harder to accept the difference in ourselves than a perceived difference in someone else.