I find myself at a bit of a loss for words -- which is really saying something for me -- when it comes to talking about this book project, Poor Girl, Poor World, a story about a little girl on the spectrum.
I don’t consider myself a children’s writer, but I’m trying to respect the craft enough to go where creativity leads me.
I am but a vessel (and a rusty one at that) for the movement of ideas.
And the idea for Poor Girl, Poor World came to me in the shower -- as most good ones do -- on a rare occasion when I was not also being monitored my multiple tiny humans screaming at me or trying to eat toilet paper.
At first this was a poem for… and about my daughter, Maggie.
Who has transformed over the last year in so many profound ways. The most notable of which is her ability to communicate to us a little bit of how she sees the world.
And it’s certainly not how we see it.
I learn so much through her eyes.
I learn to look for the beautiful details, the patterns of movement and ground myself in the things I can feel.
I learn to be a more mindful, present person and I am forever indebted to her for it.
I hope a little bit of my girl shines through this story.
I hope others, children and adults alike, can relate to its message.
I hope it works as a mechanism for increasing inclusion for those who see the world a little differently from the norm.
I hope readers see how very rich those with neurological diversities are, and how poor a world we would be without them.
I’m still just over here admiring you from afar. I know you were only physically in my life for a short time but you don’t know the positive impact it has had on me having you there (even if it is just virtually). You remind me everyday just how blessed we are to have these little humans in our lives! You are a beautiful writer and such an inspiration!
Katie Feavel
Author
Katie Feavel is the coffee-fueled Director of Household Operations and Child Care Coordinator at House Feavel. She likes to collect hobbies and spends her free time reading, singing, sewing, knitting, failing at Pinterest-inspired crafts, burning gluten-free food, killing house plants and having dance parties with her toddlers. A native Arizonan, Katie now resides in the Chicago area with her husband and three young children, where she relishes in the change of seasons and absence of scorpions and lethal plants. When Leaves Listen is Katie Feavel's first novel and the first in The Nature of Noise Series.