Accidents of Nature

Accidents of Nature

  • by Harriet McBryde Johnson
  • Narrated by Jenna Lamia
  • 5 hrs and 40 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook
4.58 (59
Ratings.
)

Publisher's Summary

"I'm in the middle of a full-blown spaz-attack, and I don't care. I don't care at all. At home I always try to act normal, and spaz-attacks definitely aren't normal. Here, people understand. They know a spaz-attack signals that I'm excited. They're excited too, so they squeal with me; some even spaz on purpose, if you can call that spazzing."An unforgettable coming-of-age novel about what it's like to live with a physical disability.
It's the summer of 1970. Seventeen-year-old Jean has cerebral palsy, but she's always believed she's just the same as everyone else. She's never really known another disabled person before she arrives at Camp Courage. As Jean joins a community unlike any she has ever imagined, she comes to question her old beliefs and look at the world in a new light. The camp session is only 10 days long, but that may be all it takes to change a life forever.
Henry Holt published Harriet McBryde Johnson's adult memoir, Too Late to Die Young, in April 2005. Ms. Johnson has been featured in The New York Times Magazine and has been an activist for disability rights for many years.

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What the Critics Say

"[Johnson] possesses a rare gift for writing in the present tense: readers will feel as if they are experiencing Jean's many small discoveries right along with her." (Publishers Weekly)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

I Loved this Book!

I found this book because I really enjoyed the narrator from the Secret Life of Bees. I did a search and found that she also did this book so I took a chance without knowing much about the this particular title.
I loved this book! It is a wonderful portrayal of a teenage girl with cerebral palsy who learns more than she bargained for at a sleep-away camp her parents want her to attend.
I have a son with autism and a Deaf cousin who are both highly-opinionated and intellegent about their "disabilities." They both remind me of the character Sarah who tells us "norms" that the voice of a disabled person can not only be blunt but downright inconvenient!
If you feel sorry for disabled people or pity them, this book is not for you. The author (a disabled woman herself) does not candy-coat the content with politically correct terms. It is an insider's view into a culture that deserves its own voice.
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- Michelle

A ride in their wheels

Narrator did an outstanding job with character voices. I am an occupational therapist who used to work in Johnston County schools. Narrator has the accent right. The story is a revealing , inside view of life from someone with CP and a loving family. She meets others at camp with handicaps and explores their worlds and questions her own. The crips and the walkie talkies. Will be some skeptical when watching telethons. Loved experiencing the camp experiences with her. Very real and candid.
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- Brave Bear

Book Details

  • Release Date: 05-18-2006
  • Publisher: Listening Library
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