April is Autism Awareness month and as many of you know my son is on the mild side of the spectrum. People see mild and think everything is okay and they’d be mostly right. It’s been over a year since his diagnosis and he has made so many strides (the school system keeps telling me he doesn’t need what I ask for because he is too high functioning and while that’s nice to hear it is not at all helpful) but equal strides have been made in my thinking and accepting of the diagnosis. We are in a much happier place than we were a year ago, but it has come through hard times and hard work (most of that by Gage). His story is still being written.
There are quite a few characters in fiction that are on the autism spectrum and that’s this week’s quiz. See if you can match these titles with their character who is or is most likely on the spectrum.
Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize. No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying. You have til Sunday to enter. All extras can be found here.
Leave your guesses in the comment section.
You only need to guess one to be eligible for a prize.
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time (Haddon) A. Christopher Boone
2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Foer) E. Oskar Schell
3. The Rosie Project (Simsion) H. Don Tillman
4. Oryx & Crake (Atwood) J. Crake
5. Al Capone Does My Shirts (Choldenko) I. Natalie Flanagan
6. Someone Else’s Love Story (Jackson) G. William Ashe
7. Marcelo in the Real World (Sandoval) D. Marcelo Sandoval
8. House Rules (Picoult) C. Jacob Hunt
9. Dear John (Sparks) F. Alan
10. Love Anthony B. Anthony Donatelli
And as promised, here are my A favorites…
I’ve loved her since my teens and her luminous beauty and graceful spirit still draw me to her movies to this day. Did you know she is the daughter of a Dutch baroness? She spent her later years as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and died too young at 63. My favorite movie of hers is Breakfast at Tiffany’s, one of my all-time faves. And I really love Roman Holiday and Two for the Road too, one at the beginning and one at the end of her great career.
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
I have a favorite A title for three different periods of my life and this happens to fit my current state, even though it is a young adult book. Jason and I listened to the audio read by the author on a road trip and fell in love with it. Fiction loosely based on Alexie’s life growing up on the Spokane reservation, Junior will steal your heart. It’s funny and heartbreaking at the same time, not an easy thing to achieve.
I could have just as easily said Jane Austen, but Jane sometimes makes me work for the pay-off and Sarah just lets me have the fun. I love the lightness and the ease of her writing and the magical element she seamlessly makes a part of the story. I’ve read all of her books and still consider her first, Garden Spells my favorite.
This comedy is full of laughs but also has a dark edge to it that makes it stick with you after it’s done. Lemmon is a nice guy who gets taken advantage of and MacLaine is a naive girl who gets taken advantage of and this bond forms a friendship. This won a Best Picture Oscar and Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine were also nominated for Oscars.
Stacy's Books 
7 – D! (that one was kind of easy….)
You are cute. There are quite a few easy one’s this week 🙂 10 points!
I’ve only read one of these (Dog in the Night-time) and I can’t remember the name… or even recognise it 😦 But I’ll take a punt on 10 being B!
Great idea!
Jemima
#TeamDamyanti
Blogging from Alpha to Zulu in April!
Still haven’t read that one. I need to! 10 points 🙂
1. A
2. E
3. H
4. J
5. I
6. G
7. D
8. C
9. F
10. B
100 perfectly A points 🙂
I would guess 7-D and 10-B, but other than that, I don’t have a clue. Audrey Hepburn has always been one of my favorites, too — particularly in Sabrina and Charade. I’ve never read any of Sarah Addison Allen’s books. I’ll have to look her up.
I like both of those movies. Especially Charade since it had another favorite – Cary Grant!
Ah, I’m with you there!
So glad that Gage has come so far in the last year (mom and dad too!). Keep demanding what you know is best for Gage at school. It will be a battle at times, but you know what he needs better than anyone else. The stress of it all will pay off in the end. I did it with my middle son (and that was almost 20 years ago) and he is a college graduate with a career in pharmacy. I loved Alexie’s book too, and Sarah Addison Allen is one of my go to authors.
Thanks for the pep talk, Nise! Gage is only 3 and most of the time I don’t know what he needs yet. We’ll see how the rest of this year goes and then decide if we want to try him somewhere else. He does seem to be doing well there, but with a few adjustments I know he could be doing better.
I only know a few. (4 = J!)
Happy “A is for Alphabet”-ing!
It’s been years since I saw The Apartment but I do recall it was quite moving. And probably the one that made me really consider how very talented Maclaine is.
Me too! She was really great in this and so different from the parts that she’s taken as she’s gotten older. 10 points 🙂
Oops, hit submit before I left my answers to the quiz – I am so passionate about a mother knows her child better than so called experts, can you tell it’s still a hot issue for me? ;o)
1. Christopher Boone
2. Oskar Schell
3. Don Tillman
4. Crake
5. Natalie Flanagan
6. William Ashe
7. Marcelo Sandoval
8. Jacob Hunt
9. Alan
10. Anthony Donatelli
Passion is good 🙂 100 points!
Good to hear Gage is doing well.
I think I know a few answers this week:
1. a. Christopher Boone
3. h. Don Tilman
4. j. Crake
6. g. William Ashe
Thanks, Leslie 🙂 40 points!
3. H
10. B
I’m the worst at these contests (which is why I don’t enter yours often, haha). But I read The Rosie Project and Love Anthony. I’m sure of TRP and kinda sure of LA (maybe not). See that’s why I don’t enter these things 🙂
So glad to hear about Gage and how things have changed in the year since his diagnosis. He’s lucky to be your son!
Thanks, Mary. That is very sweet to say. Gage and I (and Jason) are lucky to have each other 🙂 Knowing 2 is pretty good, 20 points!
Good morning from England! My first post for the A to Z challenge was about raising autism awareness too. I am a person with autism and so is my son. Nice to meet you and I look forward to reading your B post (we’re already on B day over here in England).
Thanks for stopping by. The world of autism is a new one for me so I’m always glad to meet people who are in it 🙂
So good to hear about Gage’s progress over the year and his awesome mum & dad have the biggest role in that!! Really … you are the one’s who love him unconditionally, you’re his role model and teacher and his advocate … keep doing what you’re doing, Nobody knows him and what he needs better than you do!
1. Christopher Boone
2. Oskar Shelle
3. Don Tillman
4. Crake
5. Alan?
6.
7. Marcelo Sandoval
8. Jacob Hunt
9.
10. Anthony Donatelli
Thank you so much, Sheree! I can’t take credit, because truly it is Gage doing more work than any three year old should have to that has gotten him this far. He’s a special guys 🙂
70 points!
4. J
7. D
I’ve been terrible at these lately. 😦
I’ll see if I can make it easier tomorrow 🙂 20 points!
I have not seen The Apartment. I should. I really enjoy Sarah Addison Allen. Garden Spells is my favorite too 🙂