The Gold of the Sunbeams and Other Stories

Book excerpt: "Two miracles underlie this work: the author's age - he is seventeen years old - and the fact that he is severely autistic. Both aspects enrich the substance of his narrative. This talented young writer, defying the general perception that autistic people, imprisoned within themselves, are unable to communicate with the outside world, has been writing stories of poetic prose and literary eloquence since before he was eight." "Tito's stories range from beautiful to funny and touching. In the title story, the young protagonist, whose father has been imprisoned for gambling in the park, must assume overnight the mantle of responsibility for his family - which he does with great heroism - until that authority has to be returned to his father and new problems begin. In "The Showers," when a cyclone wreaks devastation in rural India, Tito imagines the survivor's plight, from the sorrow of losing their homes to the politics of rebuilding their lives. In "Broken Mirror," we learn the history of a room from a broken mirror that hangs on the wall, and which Tito imbues with emotions and memories. In "Grey, Apple Green, and White," he gives life and character to colors the way the French symbolist poet Rimbaud gave colors to vowels. The stories connect through a rich and complex imagery of smiles, dust motes, and margossa trees."--BOOK JACKET.