24 February 2022 ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE? by Leslie Connor, HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, February 2022, 336p., ISBN: 978-0-06-299936-8

“Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.”

– Nicole Baumer, MD, MEd and Julia Frueh, MD, Harvard Medical School

“Sun, sun, sun, here it comes”

– George Harrison (1969)

“We walked him out just far enough that all we had to do was bend our knees and lower ourselves underwater. I did all the demonstrating.

‘Breathing place!’ I said, stretching my arms high. Then I pointed down and said, ‘No breathing below.’ I took a breath and lowered myself under. It felt like baby steps. But then one Saturday, Frenchie did like I did. He went under! He never choked, not once. I laughed at the way he kept his eyes open, even in the salty water. He was mostly a stare-at-nothing boy, but it seemed like Frenchie looked right at me whenever he was coming up for air. When he did the same with Gracia, she didn’t just laugh, she cried.

Teaching him to float was harder. I’m not sure the idea of lying down on top of the water made sense to him, even though I showed him a hundred times. ‘Sit back then lie back.’ Even with Mom and Gracia on each side of him and their good old mom hands underneath him, he would not lie back. He kept sitting.

‘Sheeshy-sheesh! Way to give yourself a good dunking!’ I said.

Our skin was starting to wrinkle. I watched him sit back and sink one more time.

‘Oh! Wait! I got it,’ I said. ‘Frenchie, watch me.’ I motioned Mom and Gracia out of the way.

‘Aurora, he’s been watching you,’ Mom said.

‘He’s been staring,’ I said. ‘Frenchie. Look, look. I tilted my face up. ‘Are ya watching? Do you know what I feel right now? The sun. On my face. It’s up there. You know it is. Now, I’m going to sit a little, then I’m going to lie back. And I’m going to keep the sun on my face. I’m going to rest my whole self on the water.’ I slowly lay back. With my ears underwater and my eyes half-closed, I told him, ‘Here I am just lying on the water. Relaxing. Breathing. And there’s the sun up there. Betcha I’ll see a bird fly by. That’s right, a bird! You’ve gotta try this, Frenchie.’

Well, he did it. Face tilted up to the sun, he lay back and made his body straight.

‘That’s it, Frenchie! Relax and breathe.’

He floated and floated, while Mom and Gracia and I clapped our hands and celebrated.

If there is one thing Frenchie loves as much as birds, it is the sun.”

Nathan French Livernois, aka Frenchie, does not speak nor write nor sign. He is obsessed with birds, and spends a lot of time seeming to stare off. Three years ago, at the beginning of third grade, Frenchie and his mom Gracia moved in next door to the big-hearted and oft-rambunctious rockhound, Aurora Pauline Petrequin. 

Frenchie and Aurora, now both eleven, have had the same teachers for third, fourth, and fifth grades. This year, they have been assigned to different classrooms. How will this transition play out?

Aurora has been closely observing Frenchie for years. She recognizes, from his subtlest movements and gestures, where his head is at. She’s been his buddy, guide, and cheerleader, and it is clear that Frenchie listens closely to her. We’ll come to find that he remembers and adheres to everything she tells him. Much of ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE? focuses on the wonderful relationship that has developed between the two young friends. 

But when Frenchie suddenly goes missing, this becomes the tale of a coastal Maine town that comes together to locate this unusual child whom–thanks to Aurora– so many in the community have come to recognize and love as one of their own. 

ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE? is a joy of a read, a positive and upbeat story. It's also one for which you might want to get a hold of some fresh blueberries, or maybe even organize a blueberry recipes bake-off.

Richie Partington, MLIS

Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com

https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/

https://twitter.com/richiespicks        

richiepartington@gmail.com