Haze
On sale
9th May 2003
Price: £12.99
NASEN Children's Book Award, 2003
Genre
Seb is a loner. Brilliant with numbers but hopeless with people, he prefers the company of computers and his only friend, Guzzle. Things change for the better when he makes friends with Kristie, Madeline and Jen, and a new computer teacher – Miss Adonia – arrives. However, Seb is soon caught up in a web of computer fraud and lies and turns to Madeline’s mysterious cyber friend for help.
Weaving the facts of Asperger Syndrome into the story, this fast-paced book is acclaimed author Kathy Hoopmann’s best novel yet and will be a riveting read for teenagers of all sorts and abilities.
Weaving the facts of Asperger Syndrome into the story, this fast-paced book is acclaimed author Kathy Hoopmann’s best novel yet and will be a riveting read for teenagers of all sorts and abilities.
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Reviews
Haze is about Seb, a teenager with Asperger's. The author clearly has an intimate knowledge of children like Seb and the way she describes his feelings and actions will strike chords with parents, social workers, care workers and teachers. I think that it could be useful for schools where staff could use it in class as a vehicle for exploring diversity and difference. It could also be reassuring for some families trying to understand the dilemmas of living with Asperger's.
As with all Kathy Hoopmann's books I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is easy to read and, once again, is a book that I expect young people with Asperger Syndrome will be able to identify with.
The descriptions of the various characters in this mini novel are in themselves vignettes of various problems encountered by adolescents, from cliques and alcohol consumption, to neglectful or abusive parents. The book is brief and the story is captivating enough to keep the reader's interest. By interweaving an assortment of characters throughout the story in various sub-plots, the author is able to elaborate on the intellectual and kinaesthetic experience of having Asperger's.
An absorbing and intriguing story that highlights the strengths and weaknesses of a teenage aspie perfectly and believe me I should know!