With the Light 2

I really do like this series.  While learning a lot about autism, the story does a really good job of being cheery and hopeful while also showing the difficulties.  Every time you think that Hikaru and his mom have things going smoothly, especially in relation to other children with similar disabilities, there’s always some contrast to show just how difficult it is to deal with the condition.  Plus, the volumes are huge.  You get a lot of bang for your buck, and I couldn’t put this volume down.  I think I read it almost all in one sitting.

The volume covers Hikaru’s later Elementary School years, and the first chunk of story deals with a little girl entering the special needs classroom.  Her mother has had a lot harder time with her than Hikaru’s mom, to the point where her child wasn’t even diagnosed with a disability until she tried to enroll her in elementary school.  A lot of time is spent getting the mother used to the idea of autism (the little girl’s condition is very similar to Hikaru’s), and getting the little girl to learn how to communicate with others.  Like the entire series, really, this entire section is pretty bittersweet.  You feel bad for the mother, who didn’t know how to deal with the disability or who to turn to, and it’s really quite charming to see the little girl grow up and be… well, genuinely happy.

There’s also a section about the buddy system at the school, where children from another class come to spend time with the kids in the special education class.  Hikaru and his buddy get along pretty well, and Hikaru chooses the job they do together as taking care of the class garden.  The two children go out and water the plants at the same time every day, and the buddy neglects to go down to the class when it’s raining, since he figures they won’t be watering the plants that day.  There’s an incident where Hikaru wanders out into the rainstorm by himself and sits out in the garden.  It’s a relatively minor incident, but it affects the buddy pretty profoundly.  I felt bad for the little kid, and he gets to be pretty close with Hikaru afterwards.

A more serious incident, illustrating some of the more serious problems of autism instead of the fairly positive outlook the series takes most of the time, deals with Hikaru’s fondness for wandering off.  His parents wind up having to apologize and pay a lot when Hikaru walks into places and practices some of his normal activities, like peeling paper or just showing up and walking off with something from a store or home.  Later, Hikaru wanders off and gets on a bus, totally leaving the area his parents normally find him in.  A lot of people are called in and there’s a huge panic, as you can imagine.  Hikaru is pretty calm (he likes to ride busses and trains), which is an odd contrast to the parents and adults in the situation, and… like I said, it does a good job showing a more negative event.

Later still, the wonderful special education who has been helping Hikaru and the new little girl is transferred to another school and the parents and students have to deal with a new teacher.  The teacher doesn’t see the difference between the children in her class and younger kids, and both she and the parents get pretty fed up with each other via a series of serious miscommunications.  Also, the new teacher took the position because she is close to retirement and thought it would be easier to deal with a class with only two students.  Right.

There’s lots of happy moments in this volume too.  Like I said, most of the series is pretty happy and optimistic, which is probably part of its appeal.  Both the buddy system at the school and the teacher’s transfer (it’s because he gets married) prove to be really special moments in Hikaru’s life.  The buddy system yields a lot of vegetables, which the children cook and prepare into dishes to share with other people at the school at an end-of-the-year event.  The wedding is special because the teacher goes to great lengths to accommodate the children so they can attend, and the children also go above and beyond to make the teacher’s wedding special.

It’s genuinely touching in a way no other series I read is.  It’s also a very compelling read, and each volume is huge, so there’s not a lot to dislike about what you’re getting in each volume.  You run the gamut of emotions as you read it, and… it’s just incredibly enjoyable to follow Hikaru’s life.