Publisher's Synopsis
Written by a severely autistic young boy, this articulate and beautiful book "forces us to reconsider the condition of the deeply autistic"(Dr. Oliver Sacks).
In The Mind Tree, we meet Tito, a severely autistic and nearly nonverbal child who, despite these challenges, has an astonishing ability to communicate through writing. At the age of three, Tito was diagnosed with severe low-functioning autism. But his mother read to him with boundless determination, taught him to write in English, and challenged him to write his own stories. The result of their efforts is this extraordinary book-written when he was eight to eleven years old-composed of profound and startling philosophical prose and poetry.
During a New York Times interview, Tito scrawled on a yellow pad, "I need to write . . . It has become a part of me." Tito's story offers unique insight into autism and other neurological disabilities, and illustrates the insatiable human desire to create. His beautifully crafted language reveals how it feels to be locked inside an autistic body and mind.
"This book is indeed amazing, shocking too." -Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
"Tito is a window into autism such as the world has never seen." -Portia Iversen, cofounder of Cure Autism Now
"Tito's vivid autobiographical reflections reveal a sensibility and intelligence greater than his years." -National Geographic
