Appear on Oprah, Sell A Book December 9, 2009 8:10 AM Subscribe
Well, January Schofield's father just got his book deal.
A followup to this previous post, according to the Publisher's Lunch report on recent deals reached:
Michael Schofield's JANUARY FIRST: One Child's Battle with Schizophrenia, the story of the author's daughter, Jani, age seven who suffers from one of the worst cases of schizophrenia ever documented, and which causes her to hallucinate 95 percent of the time, begging the question of what is, for her, the essence of reality; some of her hundreds of imaginary friends urge her to violent acts, which demands extraordinary effort, sacrifice and faith on the part of her parents to keep Jani safe, happy, and their family together, to Diane Salvatore and Christine Pride at Broadway, by Byrd Leavell at the Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
A followup to this previous post, according to the Publisher's Lunch report on recent deals reached:
Michael Schofield's JANUARY FIRST: One Child's Battle with Schizophrenia, the story of the author's daughter, Jani, age seven who suffers from one of the worst cases of schizophrenia ever documented, and which causes her to hallucinate 95 percent of the time, begging the question of what is, for her, the essence of reality; some of her hundreds of imaginary friends urge her to violent acts, which demands extraordinary effort, sacrifice and faith on the part of her parents to keep Jani safe, happy, and their family together, to Diane Salvatore and Christine Pride at Broadway, by Byrd Leavell at the Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
This in combination with yesterday's fpp about the woman who was killed by her autistic son fill me with sadness and futility. When mental health is concerned, how do you protect someone you love from someone else you love?
posted by 8dot3 at 8:53 AM on December 9, 2009
posted by 8dot3 at 8:53 AM on December 9, 2009
I hope Bodhi gets a chapter or two all to himself.
posted by zizzle at 9:32 AM on December 9, 2009 [6 favorites]
posted by zizzle at 9:32 AM on December 9, 2009 [6 favorites]
I would rather anyone going through what he's gone through get a book deal, rather than one more gimmicky blog project-turned-book.
posted by pinky at 11:55 AM on December 9, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by pinky at 11:55 AM on December 9, 2009 [2 favorites]
Wow, I just spent an hour reading all about this after seeing the post and wow. Clearly something is really wrong with this kid, but those parents are maybe not the best equipped people to be handling it, especially the dad. He seems to have his own serious problems that existed before she was born. I'm not saying that even the most stable of people wouldn't reach their breaking point with a kid with such terrible, serious problems, but clearly it doesn't help if the parents have their own somewhat serious mental health problems.
And then there are all the conspiracy theorists who think that she is this way because of something her parents did, or that there's some big conspiracy between the family, the LA Times, UCLA, and big pharma. I'm not a trusting person, but I doubt this kid was delusional her entire life because of her parents or the food she ate or vaccines.
The person who really seems to be getting the rawest deal in this is the son. He's hit and kicked and screamed at (which causes him to scream in terror) by his sister on a regular basis, but this is not child abuse because it's his schizophrenic sister. They shouldn't even bring him to see her if that's happening. Judging from the blog, she doesn't really want to see him, and I doubt he enjoys her much.
posted by ishotjr at 5:10 PM on December 9, 2009 [5 favorites]
And then there are all the conspiracy theorists who think that she is this way because of something her parents did, or that there's some big conspiracy between the family, the LA Times, UCLA, and big pharma. I'm not a trusting person, but I doubt this kid was delusional her entire life because of her parents or the food she ate or vaccines.
The person who really seems to be getting the rawest deal in this is the son. He's hit and kicked and screamed at (which causes him to scream in terror) by his sister on a regular basis, but this is not child abuse because it's his schizophrenic sister. They shouldn't even bring him to see her if that's happening. Judging from the blog, she doesn't really want to see him, and I doubt he enjoys her much.
posted by ishotjr at 5:10 PM on December 9, 2009 [5 favorites]
The person who really seems to be getting the rawest deal in this is the son. He's hit and kicked and screamed at (which causes him to scream in terror) by his sister on a regular basis, but this is not child abuse because it's his schizophrenic sister.
I meant for that to end in a question mark.
posted by ishotjr at 5:12 PM on December 9, 2009
I meant for that to end in a question mark.
posted by ishotjr at 5:12 PM on December 9, 2009
Oh, and before I start a debate: I'm not judging the parents at all or the choices they have made. Nobody can be expected to deal with that situation without problems. It sucks that they can't get the help they need to deal with this and are stuck bearing so much of the brunt themselves.
posted by ishotjr at 5:14 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by ishotjr at 5:14 PM on December 9, 2009
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posted by availablelight at 8:18 AM on December 9, 2009