I Dream He Talks to Me
A Memoir of Learning How to Listen
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
When Allison’s son, John Henry, stopped using his growing vocabulary just before his second birthday, she knew in her bones that something was shifting. In the years since his autism diagnosis, Allison and John Henry have embarked on an intense journey filled with the adventure, joy, heartbreak, confusion, and powerful love lessons that are the hallmarks of a quest for understanding.
In I Dream He Talks to Me, Allison details the meltdowns and the moments of grace, and how the mundane expectations of a parent turn into extraordinary achievements. The saying goes, “If you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism”; no two stories are alike, and yet there are universal truths that apply to all parent-child relationships. With gorgeous prose, Allison shares her and John Henry’s experience while also creating a riveting narrative that will speak to anyone who parents—and who has questioned their own ability to do so. An exploration of resilience and compassion—both for ourselves and for others—I Dream He Talks to Me is also a moving meditation on our place in the world and how we get there; what words mean, what they don’t; and, ultimately, how we truly express ourselves and truly know those whom we love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Moorer follows her debut, Blood, with an equally vulnerable and uplifting account of raising a child on the autism spectrum. In prose both lyrical and frank, she chronicles how her son, John Henry, went from being "a sweet and social child" to losing his language skills at 17 months. As she balanced divorce and her musical career, she parented John Henry through the minutiae of his daily schedule, habits, and moods: the comforts of cinnamon rolls and bacon, the triggers of frustration and inactivity, and "the moments that I wait on, when I can actually feel instead of have faith that he loves me, when... he is at peace." In sharing her experience—and advice in a chapter called "A Guide to Getting Through" ("grow elephant-sized balls")—she reassures other parents that they are not alone. At the same time, she doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties she's encountered, describing the peril of a snow day's interruption of routine and the "parallel universe... no one else sees" of having a nonverbal child who wants to take "five or six baths a day." Moorer's candor and self-doubt are achingly honest and oftentimes funny, making this not a story of heartbreak but a celebration of life's struggles and rewards. This is a parenting book worth reading twice.
