Sometimes what drives you to read a book goes beyond an intense interest in the subject matter. It’s a good day when the experience is a good one.
It was with Celeste Cornish’s The Voyages of Starship Sid.
Cornish, a former reporter who wrote for us and for the folks at Sound Publishing, tells the story of Sid Ivins, a fourth-grader at the fictitious Walter Mondale Elementary School in Bremerton. Sid, who wants to be an astronaut, has Asperger’s Syndrome, which leaves him highly functioning on the autism scale, but offers him challenges when it comes to his social skills.
Sid tells his own story:
“‘Where in the world did you find that many pairs of vampire teeth in June?’ Mom asked George.
“‘I ordered them online. Mom left her credit card out on the dining room table so I used it,’ he said, and mom cracked up.
“‘They come in packs of twelve and I wanted to make sure I had enough, so I ordered twelve packs.’
“‘That’s one hundred and forty-four vampire teeth,’ I said. ‘That should be enough to get us through the summer.’
“Mom laughed again, even though nobody told a joke.”
Cornish is familiar with the Asperger’s topic generally. She is a substitute paraeducator in the Central Kitsap School District. She wrote the book in part so people will have a better understanding of the condition.
“They don’t fit in and they know they don’t fit in,” Cornish said. “There’s nothing physically wrong with them, but it’s a hard for them. It’s a really hard road for these kids.”
The book, which is aimed at a younger market but is fun for adults as well, does do a good job of illustrating how the condition shows up. Cornish hopes when adults see the kid who tears up his homework because he believes that will make it go away, or won’t stop talking about one subject, or who doesn’t seem to have an “edit” feature in his or her brain, that they will pause and understand that this is part of what you get with “Aspies.”
Sid has trouble getting acceptance from some of his friends, too, including an annoyingly persistent bully named Julie Michaels. Yep, the bully is a girl. But Sid does have his friends, and his life is a full one. His future is promising. Cornish said the more high-functioning adults with Asperger’s can do well in technical fields.
The book does what Cornish hoped. It’s a fun read, for one thing, but I learned a lot.
Cornish, by the way, has lived in Bremerton since 2002 and is married to U.S. Navy Master Chief Bryan Cornish. The two are parents to an 11-year-old son, Joshua.
The book is available at Amazon.com. She can be reached at celestercornish@yahoo.com.
