by Michael Barton
This book is simply enchanting from beginning to end and could happily sit on my coffee table as a book for guests to pick up and flick through.
It is intended to help explain all the confusing expressions, idioms and metaphors that neuro-typicals all unthinkingly use and intuitively understand without ever giving much thought to the literal meanings.
The book is divided into sections such as idioms, shortened expressions, metaphors and common instructions. Each section has a short explanatory introduction followed by a series of expressions, each simply illustrated using the literal explanation and then a short written explanation of what they really mean. The drawings are gorgeous in their child-like simplicity and remind me of how I, and many of my adult family, draw. All the examples are amusing and instructive. I only got stuck on one - "A square meal" was explained as "a balanced meal" but my mind reinterpreted the explanation as a meal being balanced on scales so I’d have preferred a "nutritionally complete meal".
The book is a 'must have' just for fun, and would make a fabulous gift for aspies and their families but also for anyone working with children or adults on the spectrum, including the police, health workers and social workers, as well as the more obvious educationalist. It might help to explain why some encounters with those on the spectrum have gone spectacularly wrong.
I could see some of these illustrations being comic greeting cards without the final explanation as they are not dissimilar in style to Simon-Drew.
If, after reading this review you decide to read this book I'd love to know what you think! Please leave your comments below...
Anna van der Post
Feb 2012
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