Book Review: All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

By Kathy Hoopmann; 65 pages. From the book jacket: "Touching, humorous and insightful, this book evokes the joys and challenges of raising a child who is different. It leaves the reader with a sense of the dignity, individuality and potential of people with Asperger Syndrome."

This looks like one of those cute gift books, but it's got a serious purpose: to provide a description of Asperger syndrome behaviors in the context of a creature for whom independence and aloofness is a point of pride. It's a clever, charming package.

About the Guide Rating

It's a great analogy, when you think about it. Unlike dogs, who thrive on attention and love and pursue it with big brown eye contact, cats are noted and even revered for taking and giving affection purely on their own terms. We expect felines to be a little prickly, a little quirky; it's in their nature to look at humans with a skeptical eye and an air of "What are you on about?" Children with Asperger syndrome may not be as fuzzy and cuddly as the kitties in the photos that fill this book, but it's easy and somewhat enlightening to think of their puzzlement at silly human social customs and cautions as being calculatedly catlike.

Each glossy page of this slender, square book has a color photo of a cat or kitten in an appropriate pose, with a short bit of text describing an Asperger's relative behavior and sometimes a caption written on the photo to explain the critter's state of mind. The language is simple and written in large letters, making this a nice choice for explaining AS to young siblings or classmates. It may also be a good little volume to pass on to older relatives who don't quite know how to handle your child's quirks, and aren't quite willing or able to read those reams of reports and research you've been passing their way. It gets some serious business done in a non-threatening, unchallenging way. If the reader in question loves cats, all the better, because there are some real cuties in here.

Books like this are necessarily simplistic, and some readers may be discomfited by the combination of cutesiness and a serious subject. But sometimes simplicity is a virtue, and a kindly package like this one can be invaluable in providing enlightenment to others and empowerment to your child. It makes you wonder what other diagnoses could be matched up this way. I've met some dogs with ADHD, to be sure.

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