I was able to ask Christina some questions that cleared up a lot of my confusion and assumptions:īetsy Bird: Selective mutism is so common in children’s novels that it is sometimes considered a subject heading in libraries. Christina suffered from low-profile selective mutism as a child and has written the book After Zero, informed by her knowledge of what that entails.

Today we sit down and talk with Christina Collins. Turns out, I may have had my terminology wrong all along. It’s so common in books that when I keep track of the books I read on Goodreads I’ve actually made it its own category. The term I always thought applied to this situation was “selective mutism”. I look forward to reading Collins’ next work.A lot of librarians are familiar with books in which a character, maybe the main character or a sibling or a friend, does not speak. I would encourage middle school aged children and older to read this to help with understanding others that are different. Collins accurately describes Elise’s internal struggle and gives Elise a voice for us to hear. She desperately wanted to connects with those around her. Looking at him you could see he wanted to connect but was terrified to. Connecting with a child who had selective mutism was one of the most rewarding and challenging moments of my career. I had worked with children for much of my life and have dealt with children who also have selective mutism and other anxiety disorders. Her perfect day would involve speaking zero words. A good day would be if she was able to get through the entire day without speaking only two words. She starts to keep track of how many words she speak in school.

Elise, in “After Zero” by Christina Collins, has figured the perfect way to never have to stress over her regrettable words. We all have said things that keep us up at night, regretting, worrying, replaying, and wishing we could have said something else. I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. Zero means no wrong answers called out in class, no secrets accidentally spilled, no conversations to agonize over at …more on Goodreads 200 Word Review Goodreads rating: 4.02 stars with 165 ratings (as of 11/6/18) Elise carries a notebook full of tallies, each page marking a day spent at her new public school, each stroke of her pencil marking a word spoken.

After Zero by Christina Collins