The Return of Mikey
Author: Diane Bucci
Imprint: Joshua Tree Publishing
Specs: 6" x 9" Perfect Bound
Publication Date: Fall, 2011
Click on image for full size cover
This book is the culmination of twenty years of journaling the long struggle of a very short life. My son, Mikey, was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old. It was changed, or “upgraded,” to Asperger’s syndrome when he was seven. I began writing short humorous stories about my daily challenges with him when he was young and finally put them together into a book format by the time he was eighteen. It was basically a collection of funny stories detailing my struggles raising a child who did not fit the “norm.”
My original intention was to produce an Erma Bombeck type of book that would appeal to other parents like me. We cannot find humorous parenting books on the shelves that relate to our children. Our books will be in the medical section (see Abnormal Psychology) or the nonfiction section (see Sob-Stories). Of course, there’s always a sprinkling of miracle stories among them. I’ve read them all. Someone removes wheat products from their autistic child’s diet and voila!, the child miraculously becomes normal. I knew that my son would not be the one in a million success story who shakes the world of modern psychiatry down to its roots. But I also knew he had something wonderful to offer people in the way of hope.
Author Diane Bucci
Author Diane Bucci was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, but has lived most of her life in Colorado. Married at age 19, Diane gave birth to Susie in 1982 and son Mikey in 1983. Mikey was diagnosed with Autism at age 3, and he began attending a preschool program at the University of Colorado Health and Sciences Center for autistic children which specialized in behavior modification. Dr. Sally J. Rogers was the director of the program.
Diane was elected President of the Colorado Autism Society when Mikey was 5, after being an active member promoting new awareness. She revised the educational pamphlet that was distributed by the local chapter and assumed the responsibility of writing the bi-monthly newsletters. Diane began writing humorous short stories about Mikey to add to the newsletters when she was short on material and received enormous response from members who urged her to compile them into a book. She began writing the book when Mikey was about 7 years old. At that time, his diagnosis was changed to Asperger’s Syndrome.
Author Website: www.MikeysMom.com
Excerpt from The Return of Mikey
Mikey resumed his questions. “Mama? Let’s talk about the Big Bang that my magazine was talking about.”
“Well the Big Bang is how scientists think the universe began, but it hasn‘t been proved, so they still call it a theory."
I tried my best to explain this theory to Mikey without dumbing it down too much. He seemed to grasp difficult and abstract concepts, and he had developed a rather large vocabulary. We had talked about force vectors when we had discussed black holes at length on another occasion. He also understood how gravity was related to the mass of an object. Mikey always made me laugh when he vacillated between asking highly intelligent questions and then reverted to the typical questions of a six-year-old.
“How big was the bang?” he wanted to know. “Could you hear it?”
I laughed, “Gee, I’m not quite that old, Mikey. That was millions of years ago. I’m sure it made a loud noise, but there were not any people alive to hear it at the time. People were put on earth after it was created.”
“By God?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And what about Jesus?”
“Well, Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God. We are Christians. We believe there was a man named Jesus who lived on earth who was actually God‘s son. God put him here to tell people about God‘s existence and the existence of heaven. And he told people God wanted them to be nice to each other and believe in God.”
“Then why did they hang Jesus?” he asked.
I stifled a chuckle. “They didn’t hang him. They nailed him to a cross. Hanging probably would have hurt less. They crucified him because they didn‘t believe him and they thought he was preaching against their king.”
Mikey pondered this. “If I was Jesus, I would come back and haunt those people who were mean to him.”
“One of God’s messages that Jesus was trying to convey was the importance of forgiveness. Jesus forgave people who were mean to him,” I explained.
Again, he pursed his lips, deep in thought. “I’m going to come back and haunt the kids who are mean to me.”
“Mikey, I think you’ll be so busy looking in the black holes that you won’t care anymore about the kids who were mean. You’ll forgive them just like Jesus did.”
He giggled. “I’ll come back and haunt you guys and play tricks on you. I’ll turn the lights out on you…when you’re in the bathroom.” Mikey erupted into more giggles at the thought of this.
His sister Susie objected, “No, Mikey! I’m already half blind without my glasses. Don‘t turn the lights out on me!”
“Okay,” he obliged. “I’ll just turn them off for a second and then turn them right back on. I’ll make spooky noises, and you won’t know where they’re coming from.”Mikey was laughing harder.
“No, Mikey!” Susie’s ire was raising over this hypothetical preposterousness. “You have to promise you won’t scare me!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll just make funny noises, and I’ll turn the lights off and on really fast.”Now he was laughing hysterically.
“Okay,” Susie settled back down. “Just so long as you promise not to scare me.”
“I promise,” he assured her. “But I promise I’m going to come back and visit you guys after I die. And you’ll know it’s me! It’ll be so funny!“
Kids say the darnedest things.
