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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | “What makes this journey so inspiring is Mooney’s transcendent humor; the self he has become does not turn away from old pain but can laugh at it, make fun of it, make it into something beautiful.”—Los Angeles Times Labeled “dyslexic and profoundly learning disabled,” Jonathan Mooney was a short-bus rider—a derogatory term used for kids in special education. To learn how others had moved beyond labels, he bought his own short bus and set out cross-country, looking for kids who had dreamed up magical, beautiful ways to overcome the obstacles that separated them from the so-called normal world. The Short Bus is his irreverent and poignant record of that odyssey, meeting thirteen people in thirteen states who taught Mooney that there’s no such thing as normal—and that to really live, every person must find their own special way of keeping on. The Short Bus is a unique gem, propelled by Mooney’s heart, humor, and outrageous rebellions.
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Jonathan Mooney | | Paperback: | 288 pages | | Publisher: | Holt Paperbacks | | Publication Date: | May 27, 2008 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0805088040 | | Product Length: | 8.0 inches | | Product Width: | 5.28 inches | | Product Height: | 0.84 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.53 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.3 inches | | Package Height: | 0.8 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.55 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 29 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 29 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 28 found the following review helpful:
 An emotional book with hidden levels which I painfully discovered Jul 07, 2007
By Julia Rogers
Short bus. I rode a short bus. I hid in the bathroom during round robin reading. I faked sick on Spelling Bee day. I had teachers that were damning but I had teachers and parents who believed in me. I'm one of the "odd" people with ADD and a learning disablity. Now I teach kids with learning disabilities so I have the perspective from both sides. Mooney paints a vivid picture of the darkness a disibility can bring. I cried though this book, but I laughed too. I hope people read this book with a open mind. For every kid with a bad school experience there is a kid with a good one. I wish Mooney could move beyond his bitter anger and make lemonade from the lemons he is sucking on. I think his next book should focus on alcohol and drug abuse of adults with ADD and LD. He might learn something about himself. I gave this book 4 stars because it is beautiful but I wish a could talk to Jonathan and remind him that our world is better because of the stuggle people like us went through. More later, I need to think this one over.
18 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 I couldn't put the books down Jun 02, 2007
By elkepelka
"EJ"
I received the book yesterday afternoon and proceeded to sit down intending to read a just a few chapters and then get dinner on the table for my boys...5 hours later, I was still reading-- I could not put the book down. I ended up reading it cover to cover at the kitchen table. I haven't done that in ages. Luckily the boys are old enough to fend for themselves!!!
This is an emotional book. It's also a really wonderful book. Jonathan has really challenged me to look inside my own self and confront my own pre-conceived ideas and ways of looking at people who are labeled disabled. I really think this book should be required reading for educators and professionals who are dealing with students or clients with disabilities, it reminds you that behind the label there is an individual who brings with them their own unique gifts and wonderful qualities. We cannot.. no we must not forget that.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Thanks from all of us. Feb 01, 2008
By DPM
I didn't ride the short bus; I came from a previous generation. However, Jonathan's experience rang true. I didn't hear any false notes. Getting my doctorate didn't take away the scars from the educational system. But I came from a different era. That's why I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the one negative review posted by J O'neil.
Certain words have an emotional impact and are only said to hurt. To publically shame a LD person for mispelling something is familiar and one of the most abusive things we can experience. It's a not-so-sublte way in our culture to win an agrument or to announce to the world that you think someone is stupid. Spelling is a gift that many LD people don't have, even though we possess many marvelous gifts. Yet O'Neil, a principal of a LD program no-less, did this. What is most disturbing is that this person seems blind to the irony. There are good teachers who fight this sick system, where these attitudes are tolerated. Thanks to J O'neil, the problem is all there in a paragraph--everything that Jonathan articulated. As I said, I found his insights about school true and I thank him for expanding the conversation.
Jonathan also takes on the issue of "normal," something that gets kicked around loosely but seldom discussed in depth. His reflections allowed me to look beyond myself, again, to the bigger question of how we all fit in this larger community. He does this in a way that's both fair and sensitive. Thanks.
13 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Okay, but Only Okay (A special educator's take) Mar 02, 2009
By Kevin Currie-Knight
"Education Grad Student"
I have finished reading Jonathan Mooney's "Short Bus" and also several reviews of the book. I thought the book was okay - no more or less than okay. The concept - a former "sped" kid buys a "short bus" and travels the country talking to people of various disability - is interesting, but the execution was somewhat pedestrian and, as another reviewer noted, somewhat whiny.
The overall "message" (or theme) of the book is that people with disabilities have (rather than are) disabilities. There is, it's true, a certain inadvertent tendency in most of us to reduce people to their disability. Moody interweaves his own story of a dissatisfactory youth (he is ADD but was labeled stupid) with others' similar struggles: several parents of children he met on his journey were engaged in lawsuits against their child's school.
But Moody often takes a worthy idea too far, in suggesting, as he often does, that disability is more a social construction than a biological reality, and often gets quite "whiny" about this. He frequently lambasts those who try to "fix the disabled," such as believers in Cochlear implants for the deaf. (In a contradiction, he also chastizes teachers who don't recognize and accomodate for disabilities like ADHD, leaving us to wonder if we are damned if we do, and damned if we don't.)
Meeting the "characters" - an ADHD artist, a blind/deaf girl, a student with cerebral palsy confined to a wheelchair, etc - was interesting, but I never felt like I "got to know" any of them. In an irony, Moody's intent of letting us "get to know" the people behind the disaiblities backfires, because in the end, I felt like the only thing I DID get to know were their disabilities. The encounters were brief (one lasting only two pages) and Moody's "discussions" with the students were never really illuminating.
In the end, the saving grace of the book was the strong narrative and "story line" of it. Moody had an interesting concept and, while it never really delivered much of what was promised, it was interesting in its own right.
As a special educator, I am glad to see books like this (and films like "Autism: the Musical"), but really wished for a bit more insight into the "characters" and a bit less whiny preaching about the injustice of being disabled.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Learning with laughter and tears Apr 02, 2009
By Colleen N. Bland
"eternal student"
This book was a requirement for a graduate course I took on learning disabilities. The teacher had a copy on hand for us to thumb through the first day of class. After just reading a couple of paragraphs here and there I couldn't let it go. I had to borrow the book that night and devoured it immediately. I bought a copy anyway because I think that all adults who consider themselves educated could benefit from Mooney's writing. I learned more in this text than I had in dozens of expensive textbooks. My copy is worn from being lent out to friends, colleagues, and family.
Mooney does not simply teach the symptoms of disability. He teaches interaction, empathy, and most of all that as with all things a sense of humor is a must. I appreciated his tone and found comfort in the idea that while things can seem heartbreaking, it is always okay to laugh. I am beginning my journey in the field of special education. When finding my interactions with students awkward and scary, I can open this book to nearly any section and find insight and support. The people that Mooney discovers on his path are what makes our world colorful, imaginative, and fun.
This book is a must have for any educator, family of a person battling with "normal", or anyone that considers himself a well rounded human being. Buy it! You'll be better off because of it.
See all 29 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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