I have a superhero inside my head.
I call him Chicken Boy.
I love to eat chicken fingers, ketchup and French fries and then he comes out.
Bahcaaaaaah!
People sometimes look at me when I make my superhero sound.
That’s because they can’t see my super hero powers.
Doctors say I have autism which is a fancy word…
for me living inside my own brain.
Gregory G. Allen, Managing Director of Westminster Arts Center at Bloomfield College, has a godson with autism. Greg and Gabe spend (almost) every Wednesday at TGIF’s eating dinner “Most children with autism need a set schedule where they know exactly what is going to happen. And let’s just say we don’t veer off of that Wednesday night of eating at Friday’s where he can get his chicken fingers, French fries and red velvet cake.” explains Greg. One night at dinner, Gabe’s sister Natalie (a freshman in high school) and Greg were watching Gabe and started thinking of a super hero named Chicken Boy and a children’s picture book idea was born.
Greg noticed that most children’s books about autism are from the perspective of a sibling or a friend and never from the mind of child. He expalins, “This book (while conceived by myself and Natalie) is told through his voice as a very basic attempt of a child with autism to try and alleviate the concerns of other children around him because of what they perceive as ‘strange’. The story shows that children with autism are just like other children, capable of imaginations full of wonderful pretend games.”
Gabe
Greg has entered Chicken Boy: The Amazing Adventures of a Super Hero with Autism in a competition to get a children’s book published. Through December 18, there is a manuscript voting round where readers can ‘vote’ on the story they like. The finalist round will run from January 31 – February 21 and a winner will be announced by March 7. You can check out the book and vote here. Gabe’s school, Radcliffe Elementary in Nutley, will benefit IF the book is chosen as a winner.
Greg says, “I want our little chicken boy super hero’s story to be read by many, many children. Autism isn’t anything for other children to fear…they just need to know a little more about it.”
