A brother and sister unite to tell the story of how they grew up with autism in what Louise Erdrich calls "a book of honesty and gentle wit." Cartoon illustrations throughout.
We looked like a cup of human fruit cocktail dumped onto the top of the house, each piece different but all out of the same can.
So begins a book unlike any other, half comics and half text, about a family that lives with autism -- and the strange life that is ordinary to them.
The oldest son, David, recites Superman episodes as he walks around the living room. A late-night family poker game spirals into a fog-driven duel. A thug from an old black-and-white rerun crawls out of the television. A housekeeper transforms into an avenging angel. A broken plate signals a terrible change in the family that none of them can prevent...until it's too late.
This groundbreaking work was excerpted in The New York Times for its ability to honestly, eloquently, and respectfully set forth what life is like with autism in the family. What sets The Ride Together apart is its combination of imagination and realism -- its vision of a family's inner world -- with David at the center.