Olivia In Five, Seven, Five; Autism In Haiku - by Kathie Giorgio (Paperback)

About the Book

Olivia In Five, Seven, Five; Autism In Haiku is the story, in poetic form, of a mother's love for her autistic child, and the way that love could blast through a diagnosis and lift this little girl, with all her quirks, fully into the world.

Book Synopsis

Kathie Giorgio was forty years old when she gave birth to the baby she and her husband, Michael, planned for, hoped for, dreamed of. But Olivia wasn't anyone this veteran mother of three teenagers expected. Olivia cried all the time. She wouldn't eat table food. She wouldn't speak. Her favorite toy was a bucket of hundreds of tiny plastic bears in rainbow colors that she spent hours every day arranging in a long looping line through the house. And finally...she was diagnosed as autistic when she was three years old. Kathie and Michael, both writers, were told that their daughter would never have words, and that she would only see them as "bumps on a log". Yet she smiled at them every day.

Olivia In Five, Seven, Five; Autism In Haiku is the story, in poetic form, of a mother's love for her autistic child, and the way that love could blast through a diagnosis and lift this little girl who smiled. Kathie smiled back.

Review Quotes

"Kathie Giorgio's Olivia in Five, Seven, Five: Autism In Haiku captures a parent's challenges, heartbreak, and optimism of raising a child with autism while celebrating Olivia's triumphant accomplishments. Olivia and her family have taught me to appreciate that autistic children are as unique and capable as any of us. Embrace Difference."

-Joseph "Dr. Joe" N. Tzougros, MD FAAP, Olivia's Pediatrician

"This chapbook is not your traditional haiku, but then, its namesake is not a traditional child. Giorgio skillfully weaves immense emotion into each of the short poems in the collection. As a poet, I admire her tenacity in taking a complex subject and distilling it into five-seven-fives. As a mother of a child with autism, I admire the way this collection captures the paradoxical relationship of parents alongside their children navigating a world that doesn't want to accept or is unable to see the bountiful diversity neurodivergence provides. Most parents of autistic children have experienced stimming, a behavior often labeled as negative and disruptive. Like so many other elements of autism, Giorgio flips perceptions on their head with lines like, "Stimming. Hand-ballet." This is a beautiful collection about parenting and growing and about that vast chasm between awareness and acceptance."

-Larina Warnock, author/poet, former editor of The Externalist literary magazine

"Kathie Giorgio's haiku for her autistic daughter are brimming with tenderness, humor, advocacy, and fierce love. The poems recast negative diagnostic predictions and harmful stereotypes into language that affirms the value of individuals with autism, embracing difference and celebrating the gift of seeing the world through someone else's eyes. Giorgio does not turn away from the grief and challenges of raising a child with autism but instead skillfully weaves those struggles into a tapestry of beauty and joy. These poems may be small, but their message is writ large: Olivia is creative, brave, complex, and-as the poet proclaims-badass."

-Brittney Corrigan, author of Daughters