From the Publisher
Rachel?s life is anything but calm. She?s a single mother of two
and publisher of a sinking parenting magazine left to her by her
father. Although she tries to be easygoing, she?s all too aware of
the statistical dangers lurking around every corner: Unintentional
injuries are the leading cause of death in children between the
ages of one and 21. So it is out of character (to say the least)
when she pulls over on the side of a busy highway to help a man and
his quirky daughter change a tire.
The daughter, Olivia, has an NLD (non-verbal
learning disorder) and is known to Rachel?s children as the most
made-fun-of student at school. Her nickname is the ?inside out
girl? since she often shows up to class with her clothes on wrong.
It is to the great dismay of Rachel?s children that their mother
begins dating the inside out girl?s widowed father, Len. When
Rachel finds herself falling in love with him, she realizes she has
to reassess her notions of the ideal family. But it?s not until Len
learns of a sudden illness that will alter his future that Rachel
begins to change as well. She finds herself revisiting a mystery
from her past and learning to love and respect every aspect of her
children?s lives?including her daughter?s crush on the girl next
door.
As she did in her hit debut novel, Town
House, Tish Cohen perfectly captures the idiosyncrasies and
charms that make up our lives, bringing us flawed characters that
are nevertheless memorable, lovable and endearing.
About the Author
Tish Cohen is the author of Inside Out Girl, a Globe
and Mail bestseller, and Town House, a regional
finalist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book.
Town House is currently in development as a feature film
with Fox 2000, with Ridley Scott as producer. Cohen has also
written three novels for younger readers -- The Invisible Rules
of the ZoË Lama and The One and Only ZoË Lama, for
middle-grade readers; and, most recently, Little Black
Lies, for teen readers. Cohen has contributed articles to some
of Canadas largest newspapers, including The Globe and
Mail and the National Post. She currently lives in
Toronto. You can visit her online at http://www.tishcohen.com.
From the Author
HarperCollins Canada's Cathi Bond spoke with Inside Out
Girl author Tish Cohen via Prosecast. Here we present a
partial transcription of the interview.
Cathi Bond: Can you tell us about the main character,
Rachel?
Tish Cohen: Well, Rachel is loosely based on my own parenting
style. I'm an over-protective mother of two skateboarding boys who
have been sent to the hospital more than a few times with
concussions, broken bones and that sort of thing. And, in spite of
all of my efforts to keep them safe, I warn them every time they go
off to bike ride or anything that they're not allowed to get hurt.
Usually it's something I could never have anticipated. So, Rachel's
nature definitely came from my own parenting with my kids.
Cathi Bond: What attracted you to this character? Was it
just your own experience? Or was there something more universal
that you saw?
Tish Cohen: I have a girlfriend who's a family therapist and I'd
heard from her about the trouble some families have in blending.
Two single parents meet and they both have kids and sometimes it's
difficult for parents to really understand the other one's
children. [I wondered] what would it be like to have a child come
into your family, and to your life, who is almost completely
unmanageable [and], at times, hard to love because she causes so
much stress and there's such a huge communication gap no matter how
hard you try. Yet this child needs love more than anything. I just
thought that was sort of an interesting situation to set up.
Cathi Bond: The child you're talking about is Olivia. She
has something that I'd never head of before, non-verbal learning
disorder. Can you tell us about that?
Tish Cohen: Non-verbal learning disorder (NLB) is a condition that
is so similar to Asperger's disorder that it's often misdiagnosed
and a huge percentage of children with Asperger's also have NLB.
It's usually a complete inability to understand any communication
cues that are not verbal. The child can understand your words but
they can't understand any hidden meaning behind them. These kids
tend to be sort of uncoordinated as well and they tend to not do
well with direction, they have special problems. They may get lost
in their own school, they may have attended the school for five
years and they still can get lost trying to find the office. They
are kids who tend to walk around school with their sweat pants
pulled too high. They may be running around in the liner of their
winter boots because that's what's most comfy and they can't
manipulate laces and that sort of thing. So, they tend to be
branded by the other kids as nerds or dummies and that's really not
the case.
What made this condition so poignant for me was the similarity
with Asperger's. Asperger kids tend to be, you know, sort of in the
same trap but with Asperger's, because it's on the autistic
spectrum, the kids tend to be in their own little social bubble,
they tend to self-isolate and they're not looking for contact with
other kids. Kids with NLB, they desperately want to be liked and
accepted by the other kids, so to me, I found that unbelievably
poignant that these kids want that more than anything and generally
don't achieve it. Heartbreaking for a parent as well, and that's
what I wanted to examine with Len. What would it be like to be the
parent of such a child? I mean, how heartbreaking every day to have
that child come home and talk about how they were bullied.
Cathi Bond: I remember reading somewhere that you really
felt that autism, which is an extraordinarily challenging disorder
but that people really needed to know more about NLD and that's one
of the reasons you wrote about it.
Tish Cohen: Yes, I mean Asperger's and autism get a lot of press
and it's deserved, but this condition, it's funny, this conditions
has sort of been overlooked and it's every bit as socially
crippling as Asperger's. And I think for the parents of the kids
with NLD and for the kids themselves, life would be a lot easier if
society understood, these kids aren't stupid, they can be gifted in
areas. Olivia's gifted in her knowledge about rodents. They can be
brilliant kids in other ways. You wouldn't bully a kid with autism
-- the kids know better than to do that. They've been taught at
school what autism is, yet they haven't been taught about this
condition.
Cathi Bond: Back to Rachel for a second, she's on the way
to a meeting. She's a single mom with two kids. She sees this guy
at the side of the road and then suddenly these two are thrust into
her life. It seems that she has an awful lot to balance.
Tish Cohen: But I think that every single parent does. I mean, my
sister is a single parent, and I watch what she's going through and
there's no one there to help with, even to take out the trash. And
just the little things that when there's two of you it really helps
to simplify life -- I think she's typical of so many people in
today's world.
Trade Paperback
272 Pages, 5.6 x 8.25 x 0.89 in
August 11, 2008
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
English
1554681200
9781554681204