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Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
Amy is a normal teenage at heart, but to others, she’s disabled because she cannot control her body’s movements. Her parents try to do what’s best for her, but Amy has other opinions.
Amy wanted to make friends, and she knew she couldn’t do that with an adult by her side. Since Amy can’t speak without her pathway (computer like speaking device) it takes her awhile to type out what she wants to say, and it also makes it difficult to type when she can only control her one arm. Amy felt that if she had classmate aids they could also help her make more friends, and kind of speak for her. So she came up with some reasons to get her mom to allow it.
Amy wanted to get close to a classmate named Matthew, she had had an eye on him for a while, so she emailed him trying to get him to sign up for the program and help her. The classmate aids didn’t turn out how Amy planned. Some of them didn’t truly help her, or they didn’t sit and help her eat. Except for Matthew, He was there for her, helping her carry her books between classes, eating with her, and helping her clean herself up. Amy had notice small little things that Matthew did while they were together at school, like tapping on the lockers while they walked down the hall, counting things, going to the bathroom to wash his hands more than once. So while Matthew helped Amy, Amy helped Matthew with his OCD and gave him little assignments to try to break his habits. After graduation, they lost touch until Amy works up the courage to contact him again.
In my opinion this novel has the theme of overcoming obstacles. For Amy this meant overcoming her mom by getting her mom to allow her to have classmate aids, overcoming all the people who looked down on her because she is disabled, overcoming all the people who ignore/ simply don’t talk to her because it takes a minute to type it out, or all the obstacles that she puts herself into. Also with being disabled she has many obstacles to face. Getting dressed, eating, talking, using the bathroom, just simple everyday things. This novel tells about Amy’s view on the world, telling the ways on how they are similar, and different. Amy has the view that she is like everyone else, but still told about her struggles of not being able to control her body. I learned that just because someone is physically disabled that doesn’t mean that they are mentally any different.
I personally liked this novel, until the ending. I like how the author didn’t just make this a normal love story. She wrote the story with two “uncommon” teengers, one being physically disabled, and the other struggling mentally. She told the struggle and the awkwardness of young love. The ending wasn’t my favorite though, I wish it would have ended differently. Even with this I would recommend this book strongly, if you enjoy uncommon types of stories.
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