 Cover of the book | |
| Author | Naoki Higashida |
|---|---|
| Translator | Keiko Yoshida, David Mitchell |
| Language | Japanese, English |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 2007 |
Published in English | 2013 |
| Pages | 135 |
| ISBN | 978-0-812-99486-5 |
| Followed by | Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 |
The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism (Japanese: 自閉症の僕が跳びはねる理由～会話のできない中学生がつづる内なる心～, Hepburn: Jiheishō no Boku ga Tobihaneru Riyū ~Kaiwa no Dekinai Chūgakusei ga Tsuzuru Uchinaru Kokoro~) is a biography attributed to Naoki Higashida, a nonverbal autistic person from Japan. It was first published in Japan in 2007. The English translation, by Keiko Yoshida and her husband, English author David Mitchell, was published in 2013.
The book alleges that its author, Higashida, learned to communicate using the scientifically discredited techniques of facilitated communication and rapid prompting, which raises suspicions about the book's authorship. Psychologist Jens Hellmann said that the accounts "resemble what I would deem very close to an autistic child's parents' dream."[1][2] The book became a New York Times bestseller[3] and a Sunday Times bestseller for hardback nonfiction in the UK.[4] It has been translated into over 30 other languages.
- ^ Block, Stefan Merrill (3 April 2018). "What is the Writer's Responsibility To Those Unable to Tell Their Own Stories?". Literary Hub. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ Hellmann, Jens (19 December 2013). "The reason I jump: The inner voice of a thirteen-year-old boy with autism by Naoki Higashida | book review | In-Mind". www.in-mind.org. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
- ^ "Best Sellers - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
- ^ Kinchen, Rosie (14 July 2013), "Japanese teenager unable to speak writes autism bestseller", Sunday Times, UK, archived from the original on August 21, 2013