About+Autism

About Autism
The fact that Moose's sister, Natalie, is mentally disabled, plays a major role in this novel. Her illness is a main reason that the family moves to Alcatraz to be close to a special school in San Francisco. Also, Moose has to spend all of his after-school time watching his sister. Natalie has symptoms of what will later be diagnosed as autism; the book is set in 1935, but autism wasn't identified until 1943. As Gennifer Choldenko says in her Author's Note, "Children with autism are often prone to tantrums, repetitive behaviors and intense physical sensitivities and desensitivities." Natalie's character doesn't talk much, doesn't like being touched, she has bad tantrums, and she loves playing with her button collection, making repeating patterns, as well as counting objects around her and doing math calculations. She really enjoys spending time with her brother, but most of the time isn't able to show it.

Gennifer Choldenko decided to write about a character with autism because she had a sister with a severe form of autism.

For more about autism, visit the website of the Autism Society of America