Words have power

At yesterday's session of Literary Lunches, Grand Forks Central special education teacher Kelli Henke reminded us that "words can hurt people."

Henke, who read in conjunction with the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, brought us into the world of House Rules, Jodi Picoult's novel about Jacob, a young man with autism.  In the excerpt Henke read, Jacob's mother Emma tells us about her son who's interested in forensics, so much so that he stages a fake crime scene at their house.

Emma also addresses words, in particular labels. She says, "It's a term [Asperger's Syndrome] we use to get Jacob the accommodations he needs in school, not a label to explain who he is. "

Below is the United Kingdom version of the book trailer for House Rules.