Here is a summary of a novel I just read called “Say What You
Will” by Camilie McDover, published in 2014:
There is a
girl who has cerebral palsy. Her name is Amy Van Dorn, and she is the narrator
of the book. She has a best friend named Matthew who she knew from elementary
school. She keeps sending emails to him and is fascinated about whether or not
he eventually has applied for a job. When Amy is in school, she uses a walker
but can’t talk. She uses a computer to communicate by pushing buttons and some
typing. She wants to make friends, but she doesn’t seem to have any because of
her aide and her communication skills. She is good at reading and writing
except math. She makes messes on many things and she needs bibs to wear for
eating lunches so she could be kept clean. Lots of people in her school make
bad choices her and say things that aren’t true. She had to make new friends to
sit with at lunch, but she still likes Matthew very much. They both walk
together between classes everyday unless Amy has a helper with her. Her other
friend Nicole babysits her in bed at night. Unfortunately, Amy is not great at reading so she has to read the same page more
than once.
Amy and Matthew have great conversations together about all their stuff that they have in common. He does a good job helping Amy because he likes her. He is also her boyfriend and peer helper. She asks lots of questions about himself more often to discuss his rituals and washing hands. Matthew decided to get Amy a video about many people with cerebral palsy who have problems. But Amy’s doesn’t seem to be the same because the people in the video are more disabled than she is. Amy trusts Matthew because they are good friends in high school. He is definitely handsome enough for her because he has curly hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. Since Matthew doesn’t have anything important after school, he agrees to join clubs with Amy if she asks him to. She knows less about other kids, but she had an old friend from preschool who she doesn’t know at all because he got interested in girls and property.
Amy knows a
girl named Sarah who talked about sex and love with other people. She is interested in whether or not people
love others but she isn’t exactly sure if she loves Matthew. Amy has a special place for his heart because
they are good friends but she isn't sure its love.
Matthew and Amy
play jokes and make each other laugh all the time. They also talk about reading books and they
figure out the solutions to making meeting easier and serious.
When Amy is
a senior, she was told by Matthew about taking AP classes for college. She thought Matthew was making a joke about
public speaking in classes that most people take. She isn’t brave enough to be prepared for the
speech she and Matthew had done. Some
other friends, Sarah and Chloe, thought that everyone who did their speeches on
stage were talking about the same person.
Amy used her computer to announce what she had written instead of using
her voice because of her speech problems. She
stopped talking to Matthew until the next day of school. She didn’t think he may be called a mild case
because she doesn’t think he is getting better if he reads books about doctors
or anything like medication. Before that, he began having a crush on another
girl named Sarah Heffeman, who he is scared of asking her on a date but they
did it. Matthew does not know Amy has a
crush on him but he thinks she might get mad at him if she hears about Sarah
because Amy is also friends with Sarah. So it made Amy very upset when Matthew
told her the news about Sarah.
Matthew
tried to check on the water faucet in the sink over and over again. Amy’s mother asked him to stop and study for
his test, but he wasn’t listening. So she probably got angry and told Matthew
to immediately go and do something for himself. If he checked the faucet before
the test, he would get sick and uncomfortable; he thinks it will make everyone
else sick too. When he turns to Amy, they both have a conflict about not
washing his hands at school because of his pants getting dirty and the germs
that make people very ill. Amy feels anxious and decides that she could help
him, but she hasn’t even done that before. At the end of Amy’s conversation,
Matthew calms down and understands all she just said so far. He promises to
follow all her directions and wait until he gets home to wash his hands
thoroughly. This shows that Matthew had strange creatures of his body. He had
sweaty betties and blood stains so he needed to get cleaned up. He also has
other major problems with his health so he may need Amy or go see the doctor
for help.
Amy focused on
college and the future. She made some applications to several schools but is
planning to attend Stanford University and study for something she may do.
Matthew had a stereotype on her that she needs to do some things really
important instead of talking about college. But Amy still made an application to
attend Stanford University after she got her own scooter. Before she left home
to start college, she cried a lot about Matthew because he has been her best
friend for many years and she loved him very much.
Several
months after Amy entered Stanford, many people were concerned that she looked
very sick when they came to her bedroom. She got pregnant and she had to go to
the hospital for her baby named Taylor to be born. At the end of the book, Amy was
involved for her drama program and did the funny play called “Alone Together”
which is a final part of it. Amy pretended to be a bubbly girl who tried to ask
a boy with agoraphobia out to dinner with her.
I really enjoyed this book. Its not not very easy to find novels where the main character is very disabled but also very successful. I wish there were more books like this.
Do you have any books with disabled characters to recommend?
