Maria Gallardo

When I came across this I knew I had to read it. As a mother of 2 daughters on the spectrum I was vastly curious to read about a similar life from a father’s point of view particularly in a different culture.

The author uses many drawings to help illustrate his story. I liked the simplicity in the drawings because they reminded me of similar ones we use for social stories to help the girls learn various behaviors or rules.

Learning about Maria was like reading about my own daughters in many ways. They too don’t like crowds and breathe schedules like they are as important as oxygen.

The way he describes how people look at his daughter tugs at the heartstrings because I know those looks; I’ve tried to ignore them on many occasions though it’s not always easy.

The wall he describes I’ve seen myself along with the sensitivity to rejection and/or positivity; almost as if they can feel emotions in a physical way. Though my daughters don’t pinch if they don’t like you they will shut down. My youngest just psychologically floats off into her own world while my oldest will curl up and cry as if her whole world just came crashing down.

The more I delved into this book the more I fell in love with Maria and appreciated her father for sharing a story so many like me can see our own lives represented in. Then at the end he provides a multitude of characteristics that you might see from someone on the spectrum and tries to provide an educational experience.

The thing I loved the most is that autism and good parenting of children on the spectrum doesn’t see boundaries in culture, country or gender. It doesn’t matter what language or where your child is being raised because all they really need is love and to be appreciated for who they are.… (meer)

Miguel Gallardo is an illustrator and writer. He lives in Barcelona. He wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, Maria and Me, about a vacation he had with his daughter, Maria, when she was twelve years old. Maria is autistic. In the story, he talks about both the frustrations and the joys of being Maria’s father. She has a tendency to yell inappropriate things in public but she can remember the names of almost everyone she meets even for just a few minutes and she has a smile that lights up rooms. Most of the frustration for Miguel comes not from Maria but from the nasty stares and the cruel comments made in passing by strangers and much of the joy comes from the kindness and understanding of people who take the time to make them feel welcome and to make it easier for him and his daughter: the airline staff who make sure they can sit together on the plane, the hotel staff at the resort they visit every year who seem genuinely happy to see Maria again.

Autism seems to be much more prevalent today or, perhaps, thanks to advances in the field, it is just being diagnosed more frequently. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of misconceptions about autistic children. Miguel wrote this graphic novel to try to dispel these misconceptions. Through simple mostly red, black and white graphics and a charmingly honest story, he shows what life is like for people with autism and the people who love and care for them. As it says in the prologue to the book,

…Maria is neither distant nor cold, but emotional and affectionate beyond the characteristics of her autism. We can make Maria and other children like her happier by simply accepting them just as they are: unique, like everyone else.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Kingsley Publishers for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review … (meer)