Samantha has spoken at numerous conferences as a keynote speaker and workshop Samantha has a degree in English from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Samantha Abeel Among other awards, My Thirteenth Winter won an American Library Association Award for 2005. Her newest book, My Thirteenth Winter is an honest, hopeful autobiography that will inspire anyone who has ever had to face and overcome an obstacle. First published at the age of 15, her book, Reach for the Moon won the 1994 Margot Marek Award for best book on the subject of learning disabilities, the Distinguished Book Award from the International Reading Association and was named Best Book for Teen Age by the New York Public Library.

'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.Samantha has a degree in English from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RIĬopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Pair this title with Abeel's book of poetry, Reach for the Moon (Scholastic, 2001), to inspire young people with learning disabilities and to educate others.

While this book is not likely to be of great interest to casual readers, those with similar learning issues will identify strongly with the author's trials and triumphs.

Occasionally, her well-phrased prose slips into cliché, and when she lists the math skills that she could not perform she becomes rather pedantic. Abeel relates her experiences with detached clarity, but each situation is followed by the thoughts and feelings that finally forced her to face her differences. This account is an interesting mix of factual information and memories. At least now there was a name for her difficulties and strategies she could employ. When she was finally diagnosed with dyscalculia, she and her family felt relief. By seventh grade, her feelings of insecurity had reached an all-time high, and she began to experience anxiety attacks over everything from having to remember her locker combination to managing her schoolwork to staying overnight at a friend's. Having been a gifted, creative preschooler, she was not prepared for the realization, in second grade, that she could not do many of the tasks that her classmates could accomplish with ease. Grade 9 Up-Abeel writes of her torturous year in seventh grade when she was diagnosed with a learning disability.

My thirteenth winter