Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives (Crown Publishers, 2013) joins John Elder Robison’s two previous memoirs on my list of recommended books for people on the autism spectrum.
Robison’s third book focuses upon his relationship with his son Jack (Cubby), presented as backdrop to Jack being tried for detonation of explosives. Like his earlier books, many sections are stand-alone vignettes.
The book gives equal time to the gifts of autism (mental elasticity that confers an advantage during motivated, self-directed learning) as it does to challenges (Robison believes that deficient theory of mind prevented Cubby imagining how others might perceive videos he posted of explosions).
I enjoyed this book for its portrayal of generations on the autism spectrum. My husband Jonathan raised valid concern about telling a child (supposedly purchased from “The Kid Store”) that he didn’t live up to the manufacturer’s guarantee.
I read the book courtesy of combined resources among Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma County libraries (organized under 616.928588 ROBISON).
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