CLICK HERE to read the growing list of 5-STAR reviews for Lyndi Alexander’s young adult fantasy novel, THE LOST CHORD. To watch the video and read an excerpt, as well as find all other information about the book, visit the author’s website.
Tag: fantasy books for young adults
If at first you don’t succeed…
I’ve learned that Thunderclap has changed its policy very recently and now will no longer launch books. Disappointing, right?
So we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. I’m going to ask each and every one of you to be prepared on May 20 to send out a post for The Lost Chord with a link to our page. I have friends in America and France and Japan and Ireland and Italy, among others— so I know we can make this go around the world.
Here is the message:
“Join me in promoting autism acceptance! The Lost Chord’s heroine is on the spectrum–can she save her universe? Visit The Lost Chord to find out!”
Don’t worry, I’ll remind you. :) Send it on Facebook and other social media, message it to your friends, get the word out.Those who have reviewed the book already are finding it appropriate and reflective of the autistic experience–let’s teach everyone how it is. As always, my thanks.
People on the autism spectrum: they are just like you, but often different
Do you know someone with autism? Chances are, they react differently than you to various things — noise, weather, touch, words. If you wondered why, or if you don’t know someone with autism, here’s a quick explanation for you.
In THE LOST CHORD, Bee Warrick has autism. Cory, Devlynn, Hana and Maxian learn about her quirks and all the special things she can do as they work through their quest to save the universes! READ MORE…
Can you bring the Thunder?
In the next few weeks, I’m going to be posting about a Thunderclap campaign to help launch The Lost Chord. What is Thunderclap? you ask.
It’s a fun, fascinating way to help the world learn about THE LOST CHORD, Bee Warrick, autism and the magic of being different, all at once, by taking less than a minute of your time.
What I’ll be asking you to do is let me post one post on your Facebook and/or Twitter page–you get to choose what it says! The posts will all launch on May 20, 2018, giving us a huge combined social media presence at one given point in time. Knowing all of you, and a good guess as to the number of friends and followers you have, this could mean as many as 300,000 posts on May 20! Could we trend? I don’t know. But that would be awesome!
Why is this important?
I believe that just like in the show The Good Doctor on television, each time a neurotypical person ‘meets’ an autistic person, it’s a chance to overcome barriers. Many people, for example, believe that autism should have a “cure.” In the book, Cory Briggs comes right out and says so:
“I—I don’t know a lot about autism, Miss Fry. Is Bee gonna be okay sometime? I mean, will she get better? You know, be like everyone else?”
“Will she ever be like you, or me? Probably not. There’s an ongoing debate among the Powers that Be and parents about ‘curing’ those with autism by various means, but it seems to me that would be doing those individuals a disservice.”
“You mean they want to be—broken?”
“They aren’t broken, Cory. They have many unique characteristics and gifts that might be changed forever if they were made to be ‘like everyone else.’ But certainly we can help them communicate better, succeed in their own way. Like this.”
Bee is “different.” There’s no question. But her differences make her strong.
Bee’s counterpart in the real world is my daughter, Tasha. She is a high school student, like Bee, and she has strengths that get her through many situations that high school students find traumatizing. For example, many girls feel pressured to look a certain way, dress a certain way, or be part of a clique. Tash doesn’t care. Honestly. Peer pressure has little effect.
She’s happy to be herself every day.
She is very tuned to music and sound. She can distinguish vocally between Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato singing “Let It Go,” and switch back and forth in the next breath. She can copy accents perfectly. She can learn anything she watches on YouTube — knocks out dance moves after one viewing.
Her language processing centers are oddly routed somehow–no one has ever been able to determine where the mixups are — so it has taken her a long time to understand and express the spoken/written word. On the other hand, she has worked hard to build her skills, those that come as second nature to other kids. Now she’s a stickler for reading and following directions.
When I say she’s worked hard, I mean it. Physical therapy for a year. Occupational therapy for a year. Speech therapy for six years. Sensory Integration therapy for two years. ABA therapy, RDI therapy, special classes and classwork for twelve years. Social skills classes for three years. Horse-riding therapy. [Okay, maybe that was more fun than some of these. :)] This on top of continual parent reinforcement and pushing.
Bee references some of this in the book as well — her Therapeutic staff Support person, her social skills lessons. It’s a part of life for many on the autism spectrum.
But all these therapies are not designed to “cure” these two girls. All we’ve done is find alternative ways to give the girls the skills their neurotypical peers develop in other ways.
The book is a wild fantasy adventure, but the other teens in the story learn about Bee’s gifts and her strengths. Through their education, the reader will, too. So this book is important for our spectrum kids and their peers.
So, will you be part of the Thunder? Stay tuned for more details. They’ll be coming soon!
Welcome to THE LOST CHORD!
The young adult novel THE LOST CHORD by Lyndi Alexander is scheduled for release by September 2018. CLICK HERE or on the above graphic to read about the book and see its cover. Please check back soon for more details and links. Thanks!
The Lost Chord 
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