Buster and the Amazing Daisy

When Daisy, who is autistic, joins a mainstreamed class and trains Buster the rabbit for a pet show, she faces new challenges and makes new friends.

When Daisy, who is autistic, joins a mainstreamed class and trains Buster the rabbit for a pet show, she faces new challenges and makes new friends.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Daisy has Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism, and this novel-told from her point of view-allows children to see the world as she sees it. Other characters moving the plot along include Marissa, who leads the pack of mean-spirited "Bully-Pops"; kind but helpless Cody, who is bound to a wheelchair and breathing machine due to a freak biking accident; and Buster, the classroom rabbit that Daisy has trained to do tricks. Daisy reacts explosively to surprises and noises and things that don't match, finding solace in the understanding of teachers and in spending time in a quiet area outside training Buster. Along the way she gains hard-won insight into others, as when she realizes that Marissa's rhyming taunts are a form of obsessive behavior that she can't control. When it looks like Cody must return to the dreaded School for the Disabled and Developmentally Delayed because there is no funding for an aide, Daisy finds a way to help him. She enters Buster in a pet contest; faces the terrifying ordeal of performing on stage in front of a noisy, confusing audience; wins the contest; and uses the prize money to help Cody stay in school. Although the plot is necessarily contrived, the writing is good, and the dialogue and character development make the book a pleasure to read. Schools with Asperger's students (that would be most of us) would do well to pitch this book.-Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.