Riding The Bus With My Sister

by Rachel Simon (2002)

ISBN: 0618045996; $23.00
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publication Date: 08/26/2002
Carton Quantity: 36

Description:   Rachel Simon’s sister Beth is a spirited woman who lives intensely and often joyfully. Beth, a woman with a developmental disability, spends her days riding the buses in her Pennsylvania city. The drivers, a lively group, are her mentors; her fellow passengers are her community.

One day, Beth asked Rachel to accompany her on the buses for an entire year. This wise, funny, deeply affecting book is the chronicle of that remarkable time. Rachel, a writer and college teacher whose hyperbusy life camouflaged her emotional isolation, had much to learn in her sister’s extraordinary world.

These are life lessons from which every reader can profit: how to live in the moment, how to pay attention to what really matters, how to change, how to love — and how to slow down and enjoy the ride. Elegantly woven throughout the odyssey are riveting memories of terrifying maternal abandonment, fierce sisterly loyalty, and astonishing forgiveness.

Rachel Simon brings to light the almost invisible world of mental retardation, finds unlikely heroes in everyday life, and, without sentimentality, portrays Beth as the endearing, feisty, independent person she is. This heartwarming book about the unbreakable bond between two very different sisters takes the reader on an inspirational journey at once unique and universal.

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"This is an amazing book, a beautiful story of the ties that bind. Two sisters,
as different as they come, find the magic in each other's lives.
This book touched my soul." -- Rosie O'Donnell

If you've ever loved someone you grew apart from — maybe a sister, maybe a friend, maybe someone who was once very special to you — you know the deep longing that led to the inspiring true story, Riding The Bus With My Sister. Rachel Simon's sister Beth is a spirited woman who lives intensely and often joyfully, and who also happens to have developmental disabilities (or what used to be known as "mental retardation").

When the book opens, Beth is spending her days riding the buses in the city where she lives, creating powerful connections with the drivers and passengers. Rachel, a driven professor and writer, is struggling to come to terms with her own ambitions and loneliness — as well as her distant feelings toward her one-of-a-kind sister. One day, Beth invites Rachel to join her for a year on the buses. Rachel says yes, and so begins a journey that changes both sisters' lives.

Riding The Bus With My Sister weaves together three strands: the chronicle of this remarkable bus odyssey, life lessons Beth and Rachel learned from the characters they met on their travels, and memories of their riveting family story, unusual by any standard. Throughout the book, Rachel Simon brings to light the world of adults with developmental disabilities, finds unlikely heroes in everyday life, and discovers unrealized strength in herself — and her indomitable, unforgettable sister. This page-turning journey is impossible to read without laughing, and unimaginable to read without crying. It will make you prouder of your distinct individuality, while also making you proud to be part of the whole human family.

http://www.rachelsimon.com/

Author/Illustrator Bio:
Rachel Simon is the author of a novel, The Magic Touch, and a collection of stories, Little Nightmares, Little Dreams. She teaches creative writing at Bryn Mawr College.

***ROSIE O'DONNELL HAS RESERVED THE RIGHT TO DEVELOP THE BOOK AS A FILM and excerpts appear in the 9/2002 issue of Rosie magazine***

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This page was created/updated on August 23, 2002