Ballarat mother has a hit with book on Asperger's syndrome

So the Ballarat-born woman was quite surprised that Kevin Thinks ... about Outer Space, Confusing Expressions and the Perfectly Logical World of Asperger’s Syndrome was accepted by a top London publisher. 

The 32-page book, drawn using a black pen with watercolour, also made it to the Children’s Book Council of Australia award’s 2013 top 10 list.

“We were having drinks for my birthday in September 2010, some of my friends had children on the autistic spectrum as well,” Ms Watts said.

“We were having a bit of laugh about the embarrassing and funny things that happened when our children were little.

“I can’t remember if it was my husband Brendan or I who pulled out the book.

“We had a cry over it and my friend said ‘you need to send this to someone’.”

What followed was a “summer of nagging” from friends before the mother-of-three gave in and submitted it to Jessica Kingsley Publishers in London. 

The primary school teacher did not hear from the publishers for a while and thought that was the end of it the matter. 

“I heard from them in August 2011,” she said.

“They signed it up and asked me to draw some extra pages.

“But they took it pretty much as it was.”

The book, which is dedicated to her son Reilly, is a story about a boy who sees the world a little differently. 

“The text tells you what Reilly is thinking, but the drawing shows us what is really happening,” Ms Watts said. 

“They are all true anecdotes.”

Ms Watts said she received a lot of positive feedback from other parents.

“The book can help people understand the traits of Asperger’s better,” she said.

However, she said, there were no plans for future books waiting to be penned.

“If I sat down and decided to write a book that I thought people might like, it would be a different dynamic,” Ms Watts said.

“This was never meant to be read by anyone but myself.

“I wrote it for myself, so it is quite emotional.”

neelima.choahan@fairfaxmedia.com.au