Kim Batchelor

Writer of magical realism and other imaginative fiction

Cody and Summer: An Autism Story

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The Island of Lost Children, a modern retelling of the story of Peter Pan and Wendy

Not long ago, Cody, who is on the autism spectrum, asked my name.

“Kim,” I told him as he looked directly at me, his face beaming.

With his sky-blue eyes clearly fixed on me, he asked me again. “What’s your name?” I happily repeated my response. He seemed happy to have received it again.

Cody CroppedCody’s engaging me represented a transformation, a grace-filled connection. A connection to a little boy who not that long before ran through the halls of the church immersed in his own private place. Now he is a teenager who seeks out others. Wherever he is, it’s hard to miss that head of red hair.

For the past ten years or so, I have watched both Cody and his older sister Summer grow up. When they both were younger they seemed inseparable, especially those times Cody climbed into Summer’s lap during children’s time. She accompanied him to the altar and often held him while the minister spoke to the gathered group. He nestled into her lap, until his attention and curiosity often caught on something unrelated to the remarks.

Summer (2)The relationship of Summer and Cody inspired the Wendy and Michael characters I developed for my contemporary Peter Pan retelling, The Island of Lost Children. Wendy, while inspired by Summer, is not exactly like Summer. She is responsible for not only her brother Michael but also a rather challenging middle brother John, or JJ. Wendy’s busy and economically stressed parents have little time anymore for Michael, so Wendy steps in to do the work to engage him and improve his skills, even when she struggles with feeling disconnected from the family:

Wendy Darling did not belong with anyone. Not with her parents, who argued all the time. Not with her brother John, known in the family as JJ, who crashed and thrashed like a thunderstorm. And not with her youngest brother, Michael, who one minute fixated on the crackle of a candy wrapper against his ear and the next minute tore through whatever room tried to hold him. There were times when he slipped into Wendy’s lap and they came close to belonging with each other, but those times didn’t happen often enough.

The “crackle of a candy wrapper against his ear” came from my spouse, Ron, who worked with special needs children prior to getting a masters in special education.

It takes a village to make a character, as well as a child. I’m grateful for all those who contributed to Wendy and Michael’s development, especially a brother and sister I know. Those sibling relationships are so valuable and too infrequently explored. I continue to be inspired. Summer demonstrates on a regular basis how a caring older sister can be. As he grows more independent, Cody shows everyone how far he has come.

 

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Characters Go From Bossy to Brave

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BossyEarly in my book, the Island of Lost Children, the Peter character comments on how Wendy has become less “bossy”—he really hates to be told what to do. And sometimes Wendy in her role as the caretaker of her two younger brothers resorts to ordering them around, often without much success in achieving what she wants. Once on the island, and with her brothers less dependent on her, Wendy finds ways to creatively work with the other children. She helps them organize into teams and has the younger children who can’t read act out letters instead of using rote methods of teaching. At that point, Peter is pleased to see that she’s no longer “bossy.”

Recently, Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Girl Scouts USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez, started a campaign to ban the word “bossy” (#BanBossy), especially when used with girls. Beyoncé has made similar case. These women believe that the adjective is synonymous with being “aggressive, political, shrill, too ambitious as women” and hampers girls as leaders, causing them to remain silent when there’s a lot of pressure for them to be “liked.” Granted, the word bossy is often used to describe a particular behavior that results in others feeling controlled and crowded out, but too often the term extends beyond that to negatively describe when a girl or woman asserts herself.

So if I had to write the book over again, would I have dropped the word “bossy”? Maybe not. There’s a contrasting moment that makes it worthwhile for me, a moment that’s one of my favorites in the book. This is a spoiler, but late in the novel, after an epic battle with the pirates in which Wendy takes part, Peter no longer calls her bossy. He uses the word, “brave.”

I may not be a fan of banning most words, but what I would be in favor of is that we agree to retire those that are demeaning or hurtful.  When these four women bring attention to those little messages that keep girls from realizing their full potential, I can only stand up and cheer.

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Imagining Neverland with Heather Killough-Walden

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Heather Killough-WaldenHeather Killough-Walden counts 6 series and trilogies and multiple books within each of these in her body of work as an independent author. I got to know her first Neverland book while researching the market for my own book, The Island of Lost Children , based on the Peter and Wendy story. Heather’s Forever Neverland is for young adults (YA) while I intended my book for middle grade readers. I enjoyed reading her modern take on the story, with Peter on a motorcycle and Wendy and her brothers dealing with the aftermath of their time with him.

Heather and I are visiting in a virtual Victorian parlor something like this one drinking hot Irish Breakfast tea (Heather’s with soy milk) and nibbling on sugar-free dark chocolate bars. Come and sit down, have a cup, and listen in on the conversation.

Heather’s latest book in the series, Beyond Neverland, is available on Amazon.

heather killough-walden book coverKB: You have an impressive body of work—series on werewolves and warlocks and other beings that lurk in the night. I understand that you started with a vampire series and your writing career took off from there. Where did your original vampire(s) come from?

HKW: I fell in love with The Count from Sesame Street when I was very little. My fascination with the night-dwelling be-fanged just grew from there.

KB: What I like to focus on in my blog conversations is exploring what inspires us and where our imaginations take us. What would be the most interesting inspiration you can describe for any of your numerous books/characters/settings?

HKW: Well… I’ve been all over the world, but I guess there’s no place truly as interesting as a person’s imagination. My dreams give me a lot of ideas for characters. Sometimes inspiration just strikes out of the blue, with no provocation. Music can also trigger images, as I like to create music videos in my head when I listen to songs. I was listening to Mitternacht when I saw Roman D’Angelo for the first time – gracefully hacking and slashing his magnificent vampire way through his enemies to reach the throne he occupies now.

KB: I’m interested most of all in your two Neverland books: Forever Neverland and Beyond Neverland, which you recently released. What sparked your interest in re-imagining that story?

HKW: I’ve always felt unsatisfied with the book. I felt as if it opened a door and then wouldn’t let anyone through. It was full of possibilities left unexplored, and fantastic things undiscovered. Especially when it came to Hook. I had never in my life read a more two-dimensional character. I very much felt there was so much more to him than, sadly, because of the way the book was written, anyone even cared to learn. And then I saw the 2003 production of Peter Pan with Jason Isaacs, and that sealed it. It was time for me to tell Neverland’s real story.

KB: How did you decide to age and “modernize” those characters?

HKW: You write what you know. I didn’t live in Victorian times and I had no desire to reawaken the overly romanticized version of them – they were anything but romantic, after all. They were misogynistic, ignorant, disease-ridden, and backwards. So I brought the characters into a time where they could fully develop and then I sat them down and said, “Okay. Tell me your stories.” And so they did. Hook’s was especially gratifying.

KB: One of the most compelling aspects of your book—and this is something that struck me after I finished reading it—is how Wendy’s storytelling is being stripped away from her. I find that aspect of the story powerful and incredibly tragic. So Wendy’s “story inspirations” (Peter, Hook, etc.) rescued her. I’d like to hear your thoughts on that aspect.

HKW: It’s exactly what you said. Society attempts to strip away the magic from us, the imagination. The result is a kind of death. This happens to millions of people every day and no one gives a thought to how tragic it truly is. I wanted people to see it – and understand it. Fortunately for Wendy, her imagination was strong enough to step in and save her.

KB: I realize after reading your work how Wendy’s storytelling ability has mostly “flown” under the radar.

HKW: There are so many talented people out there whose stories will never be read due to the circumstances of how our literary society is set up. Traditional print publishing made it next to impossible. EBook reading devices made it a little easier, but now that market is so flooded, all of those truly talented people are drowning in a sea of people who think they are talented but perhaps are not so much. So the result is the same. Thousands, if not millions, of magical imaginations go unnoticed. I just wanted to shed light on one – just one – and hopefully help some readers to comprehend that if Wendy’s stories are never heard by society, then maybe there are others who aren’t being heard? Perhaps we should attempt to listen a little harder?

KB: Given that Kathy Rigby is still touring in Peter Pan, what do you think makes this story so compelling?

HKW: Well, to be honest, I can’t see the appeal in a woman playing Peter Pan. At all. However, I think just about everyone sitting in the audience has experienced the desire to fly. All it takes is faith, trust, and pixie dust, right? Who wouldn’t get on board with that?

KB: What would your Neverland look like?

HKW: If you’ve read the book, then you know. (smiles) But if you’re asking me what my own fantasy world would look like… wow. I’m afraid even I am not a good enough storyteller to convey such wonder.

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Peter Pan and Wendy in a Modern Neverland

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1My writing a story based on Peter Pan has its origins in my childhood. When I was about 8 years old, I convinced my younger sister and my friend Charlotte that I could read the secret messages that Peter Pan left in the sidewalk in front of our childhood home. They frankly weren’t buying it. I, on the other hand, believed my own made-up

I have to admit a soft spot for the story well into adulthood. After writing the middle grade novel, The Mists of Na Crainn, I decided to continue writing for children when the story of a girl forced to grow up too soon, meets the boy who never grows up, appeared somewhere in my imagination. A new Peter Pan and Wendy Darling for our times.

In my childhood, I loved the idea of flying and a faraway place where children are in charge, where small creatures flit about and light up the night sky. As an adult, I have to admit that world still fascinates me.

But beyond simply retelling the story of a modern Peter Pan, a boy who doesn’t grow up, I wanted to create a Wendy Darling who is not simply the surrogate mother who flew to Neverland. The Wendy in Lost Children is a girl who had to care for her brothers JJ and Michael, who’s on the autism spectrum while her parents work several jobs to make ends meet.

I look forward to releasing the book sometime in the never-distant future and I hope that you will return to find out how to get a copy. Just as an FYI: I no longer receive and interpret communication from Never Never Land.

Update: The Island of Lost Children is now available in hardback, paperback, and as an ebook for various platforms. For more information, check out the book’s page.

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