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My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 383 ratings · 104 reviews

In this beautiful and chilling memoir, twenty-five-year-old Samantha Abeel describes her struggles with a math-related learning disability, and how it forced her to find inner strength and courage.

Samantha Abeel couldn't tell time, remember her locker combination, or count out change at a checkout counter -- and she was in seventh grade. For a straight-A student like Saman...more

Paperback, 203 pages

Published January 1st 2005 by Scholastic (first published November 1st 2003)

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Mar 27, 2009 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, non-fiction

The author is gifted in writing, public speaking and creativity. Because of that she masked her LD issues until 7th grade. She has a learning disability that limits her in logical and process thinking. She can name numbers and math signs, but can't tell you how to do an operation. She can't easily look at her day or week and know if she has enough time to accomplish the tasks she needs/wants to do. Oh and she has depression and perfectionism.

It is a good book. It was fairly well written. Her po...more

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Feb 03, 2008 Lucy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was a complete surprise for me. A few weeks ago, my mother sent me an email which included a beautiful quote from this book. It was about being a writer, and my mother was paying a compliment to me in regards to my dedication to blogging. Interested in reading the book where the quote came from, I found myself reading about a very bright girl whose world collapsed around her as she struggled through her elementary school years with an undiagnosed learning disability.

Samantha Abeel was...more This book was a complete surprise for me. A few weeks ago, my mother sent me an email which included a beautiful quote from this book. It was about being a writer, and my mother was paying a compliment to me in regards to my dedication to blogging. Interested in reading the book where the quote came from, I found myself reading about a very bright girl whose world collapsed around her as she struggled through her elementary school years with an undiagnosed learning disability.

Samantha Abeel was a bright, precocious and highly confident young child. Her memories of Kindergarten and first grade are of being in the top of her class and proudly so. She knew she was known as one of the smart kids and did her best to live up to her reputation, even as she inwardly began to realize that sometimes, particularly during math time, she had to fake it.

As her school years progressed, and she couldn't keep up with her peers in math, and she couldn't admit that she had no idea how to tell time, she turned inward in humiliation and depression, while secretly praying that the difference was merely because she was special and wise, and not at all slow.

After many unfortunate delays and misdiagnoses, Abeel was finally diagnosed with a math and sequencing learning disability known as dyscalculia. Throughout her schooling, Abeel realized that although she couldn't understand the rules of grammar and had a hard time spelling, she had a gift for words and poetry and channeled her gift into a skill of writing. As a ninth grader, she, with help from several teachers and artists, published a book whose name was later changed to Reach For the Moon. While it gave her confidence and success, she still drifted into social isolation and depression throughout high school and later, college.

Reading about her change, her isolation and fear, made my heart pound as I thought about the possibility of any of my own children suffering in this way. Particularly Henry, as we continue to worry about whether or not his speech will come or if it will be a continual battle for him throughout his life.

The faults I have with this book lies in its slow, repetitive pace. As the story begins with her memories as a kindergartener and ends with her graduating from college, it's got more than enough "space" for her memoir, the sort of book usually reserved for a later time in life. Additionally, Abeel frequently transitions the style of writing from autobiography to memoir, which sometimes works but often times feels incredibly jarring. It's like she's a narrator to her own memories, but without first giving a warning to the reader to "fade to screen".

Aside from that, I think this would be a valuable and worthwhile book to discuss. From our current education model to the causes of depression and its treatment, I think many women, mothers and friends could relate to its material. I also think it would be a good book to recommend for older children with learning disabilities or their peers.

And, now, for the quote that started it all, which is actually quite relevant to her own story, but also a beautiful passage for anyone who enjoys writing.

For an admissions essay to Mount Holyoke College, she writes:

Sometimes on winter mornings, I try to see myself in gathered wrinkles, my dark hair forsaking me to silver. I try to see my hands traced by blue veins and my eyes in vintage brown. I try to see myself a little bent, a little withered. I close my eyes and see me all in white, all in gray, draped in the webs of age.

Oh, I will ache a little and have one of those chronic coughs. I will sit in my chair and pull at curtains that reveal a window etched with white doves of frost. Then, maybe just then, I will know what I was and who I am. I will know all that I took and all that I gave.

It is here that I want to be a messenger, a courier of everything I've gathered. I want to tell my grandchildren of the games my friends and I would play. I want to pass on the legends that creep around us. I want to tell them of the sand dunes and of the lakes. I want to tell them of the many ghosts that look fondly upon them. I want to say that I have made a difference. I want to give them the world through my eyes.

However, for now, my center, my sense of self, my purpose is yet unclear to me. I see it like one sees a fish in a river, only silvery flashes of fin and tail. Never seeing all of it at once. The journey to discover these things lies ahead. When I am in the November of my life maybe then I will understand my June. I do know that I want desperately to understand what I don't, and give the understanding of what I do to others.

Perhaps one day, after I have sunken into the shadows, my granddaughter will read one of my poems to her daughter, or show her a book that I collected, maybe even pass on one of the stories that I told. Then, there in that moment, is all that we can ever hope to be. That one little niche in time, when what we gave, or passed on, is given again.

I could never say it quite so well, but this is what I hope too.(less)

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May 30, 2013 Hannah M added it

Hannah M
Block C
05.29.13
My Thirteenth Winter a memoir by Samantha Abeel. The book is about a 25 year old woman telling her story and how she struggled with dyslexia. Throughout the story she starts off with herself as a child, how everyone saw her as a perfect straight A student with no struggles or issues. In Kindergarten she was a bright student with a great attitude, with great friends. As she got older she changed into being socially awkward, and only showed her bright side at home. First gra...more Hannah M
Block C
05.29.13
My Thirteenth Winter a memoir by Samantha Abeel. The book is about a 25 year old woman telling her story and how she struggled with dyslexia. Throughout the story she starts off with herself as a child, how everyone saw her as a perfect straight A student with no struggles or issues. In Kindergarten she was a bright student with a great attitude, with great friends. As she got older she changed into being socially awkward, and only showed her bright side at home. First grade she was always emotional, and was struggling with reading and fractions. This is where it all starts, first grade math and reading. As she progressed to fourth grade she was able to test for the Talented and Gifted program. She obviously knew there was no point on taking the test with her grades being extremely low in Math and English. By this point Samantha couldn’t understand numbers not one bit, telling time, counting money, getting to other classes. Transitioning into seventh grade (junior high) was the hardest year for Samantha, she had to learn her locker combination, learn how to tell time, and deal with a regular Algebra class. She hasn’t really told anybody how hard math is for her, she feels really embarrassed about it and doesn’t really look at it as a big deal. For English, she seems to being doing a lot better, well the concept of it at least. She has fallen in love with writing, so in love she even wrote a book. She wrote a book about her Learning Disability (LD) and how it’s affected her, all in poems. The book ended up getting published over the end of her eighth grade year beginning of her ninth grade year. The book “Reach for the Moon” won a bunch of awards, and pushed tons of people to learn and deal with their learning disabilities. “I was energized by the wonderful effect my book and my story was having on people. It was more than I had hoped for. I had felt so connected to so many who had experiences and feelings similar to mine. Now, perfect strangers of all ages were opening up and trusting me with their most private life stories and struggles and, by sharing my story, the lives of others were being changed.” (Abeel 115)

This book was really touching and really different from fictional stories I normally read. It seems like having dyslexia is a real struggle to overcome, but it doesn’t seem impossible. Samantha Abeel taught me to never give up, trying is always worth it. “I have had peace with the concept that I will always be working within myself to accept how my learning disability affects me as the circumstances in my life change.” (Abeel 202)
I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. I never really thought that I would like a biography book, but this one was different. It taught me lessons that I should have already been taught. (less)

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May 23, 2013 Bailey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-drama

My Thirteenth Winter A Memoir by Samantha Abeel is the best memoir I have ever read. I have not read a lot of of memoirs but this is one I will read again and again. It is a very good at telling you what happens in her life and not boring you at the same time and that was really amazing to me. In this book the main character Sam has dyscalculia that really controlled her life until she fights to get herself in special education class. Most of her teachers disagree but they do get her in. Before...more My Thirteenth Winter A Memoir by Samantha Abeel is the best memoir I have ever read. I have not read a lot of of memoirs but this is one I will read again and again. It is a very good at telling you what happens in her life and not boring you at the same time and that was really amazing to me. In this book the main character Sam has dyscalculia that really controlled her life until she fights to get herself in special education class. Most of her teachers disagree but they do get her in. Before anything though she has problems that literally keep her from doing anything fun and interesting like a normal kid and teenager do. She really struggles with normal things like eating. Her family makes her feel bad and isolated they make her feel worse while they are trying to make it better. “ My family doesn’t understand what’s wrong or why I do the things I do.” ( abeel 68)

My Thirteenth Winter A Memoir by Samantha Abeel is an amazing book that I will read and want everyone else to read. I love this book and I really thought I was not going to like it because they are usually boring and they have way too many facts. She makes this book really fun and interesting she makes it look into her life, but she makes it seem kind of like a story she wrote about her life. I love how she really does want to know how hard it was for her to do math and other things because of her learning disability. I was very happy to read this book after I got into it. I am not a book person at all but this is a great story and really to did like how she tells her story. She tells it with such passion and depth and I was proud to read her book.

My Thirteenth Winter A Memoir by Samantha Abeel I would give this story a five out of five for her amazing effort to make this story interesting and a fun read. Sam really made this a fun book that everyone should because she wants everyone to have something to stand on like this book. She wants everyone to know her story and all that she knows.I want anyone with a delay or learning disability to read this book and love it just like I did. I really do believe this book deserves a 5 out of 5.(less)

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May 05, 2011 Mcvane rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dyscalculia

Basically, this is a memoir of a special flake that lives on the edge of a town called Pityme.

Please note that this is not a review. Rather, it's an initial reaction:

I may be biased as I also have dyscalculia (I can't count one to ten backwards nor could I make heads and tails of my bank account). After some forty pages, I so badly wanted to kick the book to curb, but I persisted. Did it pay off? Yes and no.

I do realise it's her story, but I simply couldn't relate. Well, I did relate to some...more Basically, this is a memoir of a special flake that lives on the edge of a town called Pityme.

Please note that this is not a review. Rather, it's an initial reaction:

I may be biased as I also have dyscalculia (I can't count one to ten backwards nor could I make heads and tails of my bank account). After some forty pages, I so badly wanted to kick the book to curb, but I persisted. Did it pay off? Yes and no.

I do realise it's her story, but I simply couldn't relate. Well, I did relate to some of her experiences, but not to her perspective and outlook. It may be a personality issue, but when I was at her age, I found my dyscalculia a useful tool to assess people's ability to adapt to something they weren't familiar with. I also used the "where there is a will, there's a way, and when there's a person blocking the way, kick that person down because otherwise, there'll be a long road of sheer frustration ahead" approach. I wasn't a sensitive soul like this author, I suppose.

While I found her story interesting and sometimes poignant, it's still just one person's story. I just hope that other readers won't come away thinking her story is the representation of our lives, because I think some forget to take other factors into account, such as personality, family, friends, network of support (or lack of) and of course, various degrees of dyscalculia itself.

Don't get me wrong; Samantha is certainly right about one thing - it's an everyday struggle. It doesn't end the moment a book is closed. It continues every day, and it can be so unpredictable. Such as receiving a formal letter from a council requesting a meter reading, or when you're at ATM and you realise you forgot the pattern (the trick of 'remembering' a PIN is memorise the finger movement pattern on keypad). It can be tiring, but it helps us to be highly adaptable, which is a useful part of life, isn't it?

I do realise that my expectations may be too high when I bought this book as it's, after all, one person's story.

Kudos to the author for writing My Thirteenth Winter, though. I can easily guess writing it hadn't been an easy ride.

(less)

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Sep 21, 2012 Krista Stevens rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, middle-school, memoir, girls

Figuring out that you have a learning disability and then trying to live with that is a challenge for any young kid. Samantha Abeel is extremely descriptive and honest as she describes what it was like as a young child and up through middle trying to learn and failing before she was diagnosed with dyscalculia - a LD that makes it difficult for her to tell time, figure out how long things might take, how grammar works, etc. Thanks to a diligent mother who encouraged her as well as found creative...more

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Jul 30, 2011 J. Kennedy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, schnieder-family-book-award, nonfiction, young-adult, disability

Abeel, an intellectually gifted child with a learning disability falls through the cracks of the education system. Her brightness camouflages the fact she never mastered basic mathematical skills. As she enters junior high the coping strategies she’d used in elementary school aren’t sufficient. She experiences paralyzing anxiety, sleep deprivation, loss of appetite and antisocial behavior

Drowning in feelings of inadequacy and despair she’s at a loss about what to do. Samantha’s disability is di...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Kassidy Zender rated it 3 of 5 stars

My Thirteenth Winter documents Samantha Abeel's childhood. Samantha has a rare type of learning disability called Dyscalculia; a learning disability that prevents her from telling time, counting change accurately, and performing simple math. She did exceptionally well in all of her other subjects. Especially English. In her classes, she tried to just get along by not understanding all the material that her class was teaching. When she got into older math classes, however, she couldn't hide her d...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Natalee rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the jacket flap:
Have you ever had trouble figuring out a tip at a restaurant? Or following directions to a new place? For Samantha Abeel, who has a math-related learning disability called dyscalculia, each of these seemingly simple acts can feel next to impossible.
In her beautiful and haunting memoir, Samantha Abeel describes in evocative detail how her life was affected by her learning disability before and after she was diagnosed. In seventh grade she struggled wit the pressures of junior...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Taylor Terriberry added it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 08, 2011 Mr. Palmer rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teachers, special education students, all students

Shelves: informational-memoir, informational-self-help

I found this book in my classroom when I came back to New Mark Middle School this summer. It struck me as something I would want to read, and I have to say my first impression was right. This book is amazing. It is a memoir. In it, Samantha Abeel tells her story of dealing with a math learning disability called discalculia.

Abeel was considered a bright intelligent young girl, but she struggled with basic math concepts; telling time, adding and subtracting basic numbers, counting money, etc. Bec...more I found this book in my classroom when I came back to New Mark Middle School this summer. It struck me as something I would want to read, and I have to say my first impression was right. This book is amazing. It is a memoir. In it, Samantha Abeel tells her story of dealing with a math learning disability called discalculia.

Abeel was considered a bright intelligent young girl, but she struggled with basic math concepts; telling time, adding and subtracting basic numbers, counting money, etc. Because she was so strong in other educational areas, many people assumed that there was nothing wrong with her, or even worse that she was just not trying hard enough. This eventually drove young Abeel into a depression and caused her to completely withdraw from her friends and family.

In her thirteenth winter, when Abeel was in seventh grade, her mother discovered an article that described students who were really high in many academic areas, but struggled badly in one. It turns out Abeel had a math learning disability that was causing her trouble in school. She also was having psychological problems resulting from the stress of not knowing what was going on. After a little struggle with the school district Abeel was finally diagnosed with discalculia. She had an answer to why she struggled so much in math, and she suddenly had a new lease on life.

Abeel is an incredible writer with respect to the ideas she puts in her writing, and she also is very good at poetry. Thanks to a teacher that picked up on these strengths, Abeel had been pushed to explore more poetry. Her teacher had a friend that was a painter, Abeel and him began working on a book of poetry that was paired with his paintings. Abeel's mother worked to get this poetry booked published. Slowly, as a result of the book, people started to hear about Abeel's story and wanted her to come and speak. Abeel soon was traveling all over the country speaking and telling her story.

This is a book that really challenges your assumptions as a teacher. Many times you hear in regards to students who receive special services that they "just need to work a little bit harder." No matter how hard Abeel worked, there was always going to be a problem with basic math and spelling. Something in her brain just made her different and unable to do these tasks. This book also opened my eyes to the internal struggles that a person with a learning disability deals with. It's something all people ought to expose themselves to.

This book is a Schneider Family Book Award winner. The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. You can find more about Samantha Abeel at http://samanthaabeel.com/.

Lexile: 1050(less)

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Sep 15, 2007 Melody rated it 2 of 5 stars

This memoir by a young woman who has a disorder called dyscalculia felt claustrophobic to me. It taught me some things about bright people who have a hard time with math and maps and telling time, but for me, dwelt too much on the sadness and alienation Abeel felt. Also, it's hard to fill out a 200-odd page memoir when one begins at age 13 and ends with college graduation.

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Nov 20, 2010 Ronya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: education, bio

The first memoir from a student with dyscalculia, or the inability to process numbers, is not a woe-is-me Lifetime drama as so many biographies could be (and are). Ms. Abeel doesn't cull for sympathy; instead she has written a rather self-effacing and courageous prose- and poem-filled memoir that, while it doesn't seek to answer every question concerning her experience with a math LD, doesn't brush off the questions raised, either, as so many other bios might do, in search of a happy ending. Yep...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Deb rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bio-memoir, disability, non-fiction, teen, teen-clean-reads

Samantha is quite brilliant, yet she can't do simple math or even tell time or make change. As a result, she increasingly withdraws from her friends, is depressed and has really bad stomach aches from her constant fear of looking foolish. When she's 13, she is finally diagnosed with a learning disability that takes away her ability to see things that are sequences like math, spelling and telling time. Once she's diagnosed a great weight is lifted because she no longer blames stupidity, but knows...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was really powerful, emotionally, to me. It opened my eyes to being more grateful for the things I have been blessed with in my life that I had never considered before, things that I had taken completely for granted, such as telling time, or knowing how to pay for things in a store. It made me want to be more compassionate to all people, since we never know what internal struggles, fears, and pain others might be feeling at any given time. It made me proud to be human, proud to be aliv...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Samantha rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Jan 03, 2012 706sashaf rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 7th-grade-books

12/12/11 1-54 7:10-8:08
12/16/11 54-104 7:00-7:56
12/18/11 104-150 8:04-8:52
12/19/11 150-198 5:10-5:52

In the book, "My Thirteenth Winter" by Samantha Abeel I had serious disliked about it. First, the characters seemed to have almost no personality whatsoever. The people all seemed very normal or bland and didn't have any personality that seemed to pop out. When you write a story you should always point out their personality but, the people sounded like robots. The book was also very long and didn'...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Emilye rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-novels, childrens-books-i-have

This book was awe-inspiring! Based on the real life of the author and her struggles academically it truly moves the reader. Throughout the story the reader feels more involved with Sam (the main character) and feels heartache and sympathy for all that she has to endure throughout her life. Though this is a nonfiction text it is so well written that I personally enjoyed every minute of reading this and was very excited to see what happened in the end (besides her publishing a book). I would recom...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Tamia House rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love My Thirteenth Winter:A Memoir, it demonstrates how much a person with a learning disability can really struggle. As classmate of my peers, it has really kept me alert to those who might actually have a learning disability. In Samantha Abeel's memoir, she is in a constant struggle and she can escape by her writing. In a way I feel like I can relate, because through my writing I can let part of me break off into the character. She really has inspired me to speak up when I don't understand,...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Cassondra rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by a reading specialist (thank you), and I am so glad that i read it! It was a wonderful insight into dyscalculia, and the academic, social, and emotional struggles facing people with learning differences. The book is written at a middle school level, and I would suggest it to students, parents, counselors, school psychologists, and teachers (both special educators as well as general education teachers).

Samantha, Thank you for sharing your story, helping people b...more

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Jan 26, 2011 ayyitskianaa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 7th-grade-shelf

My Thirteenth Winter, by Samantha Abeel, was very engaging to me.

The main idea about this book to me is that even though you may not seem the same person as others but you are still as special as everyone else. Samantha doesn't know math or reading, people don't make fun of her or consider her as weird. And that's what makes Samantha special. She tries her very best to move on even though she just can't understand things in those subjects.

I think that the authors life is really worth telling b...more

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Apr 30, 2010 Quilla rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is about a girl named Samantha who goes through her life struggling with math, and other subjects. During her 13th winter, she gets diagnosed with a learning disorder. This book was my first memoir and for that I thought it was interesting. But there was no real rising for falling action, climax or any of the main story elements. That is the reason I gave it three stars. I learned from this book how a person with a learning disorder thinks and acts. She tried to pretend that she was le...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Thanh rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone with LD or anyone who have a close one that is learning disabled.

Recommended to Thanh by: Blair

I like the book the moment I started the first page. However, I wondered how this book was going to stretch into 200 or so pages without getting too repetitive.

Turn out it was pretty repetitive as she was continually depress. I can understand that, but it was pretty annoying - and I suppose that's because I get beat up and then get back up pretty quickly.

However, I must say that her life story won me over as I have dyscalculia as well, although not as chronic as hers.

A must read for anyone wit...more

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Oct 27, 2009 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teachers, parents, those with learning disabilities

Shelves: disabilities, childrens-ya-books

I really, really liked this... I loved her writing style, and her story is amazing. Teachers and parents would benefit from learning about Samantha's experience with a serious learning disability (dyscalculia) that was disguised by her intelligence and creativity. I agree with Samantha's view that "everyone [is:] learning disabled and gifted," that each of us has great potential waiting to be recognized and put to use. The biggest message I took to heart was how important it is for each of us to...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Isabella rated it 2 of 5 stars

Wow. Just wow. When I read the summary, I prepared myself for a tearjerker. Sadly, that was not what I got. Granted, the story was good. The writing, however, was horrible. The narrator was shallow, and it showed especially when she wrote about the people asking her questions. She called them ignorant! Just because someone doen't know as much about something as you do, doesn't mean they're ignorant! And besides, the defintion of ignorant means having a opprotunity to learn something, not choosin...more

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May 04, 2012 Dan Rogers rated it 5 of 5 stars

hen Samantha Abeel began kindergarten she looked and acted like any typical student, willing and eager to learn. As she progressed through the early years of school she gained a reputation among her classmates and friends as being a very intelligent child. Yet, inside Samantha didn't feel so. Yes, she knew she was smart in writing, but why couldn't she get it, like all her friends when it came to math? As she saw her friends easily understand seemingly easy things like addition, subtraction, and...more hen Samantha Abeel began kindergarten she looked and acted like any typical student, willing and eager to learn. As she progressed through the early years of school she gained a reputation among her classmates and friends as being a very intelligent child. Yet, inside Samantha didn't feel so. Yes, she knew she was smart in writing, but why couldn't she get it, like all her friends when it came to math? As she saw her friends easily understand seemingly easy things like addition, subtraction, and telling time, she couldn't understand what was wrong and why she was so different from everyone else. The further along in school years she progressed the further and further she was falling behind which then affected her life outside of school. Soon she found that many of her friends no longer understood her and some even chose to no longer be friends with her. Finally, in the summer between her 7th and 8th grade years an answer was found, she had a learning disability. This well written, personal account of the challenges she faced with the resulting highs and lows encountered was both captivating and emotional.

As a teacher, this may well be one of the most important, and life-changing books I have ever read. Having previously encountered students who struggle academically, I was quite amazed by how a student with challenges such as the ones Samantha struggled with was able to "keep it together" in school and not let anyone know or see how difficult things really were for her. It has also caused me to wonder if maybe I've had students like Samantha and not even recognized that they are struggling. I was also angered at times by the indifference of "the system" which wouldn't allow for differences just because "the tests don't indicate that she has a problem." Thank goodness for a parent who was adamant and unwilling to take no for an answer.

I smiled, I cried, and I got angry as I read this book. But what I hope to take away most of all from this book is a desire to look closer, dig deeper, and wonder more when I see students struggle. In my opinion this book should be required reading for every teacher. Students may also benefit from knowing Samantha's story as they may possibly have friends with similar difficulties. Who knows, maybe they are struggling themselves. This book may well give others the inspiration and motivation necessary to seek the help they it. My biggest takeaway from this book are expressed best in the words of the author herself "We all come in unique packages with strengths and weaknesses, and somewhere there is a precious gift in all of us. I was blessed to have parents, mentors, and teachers who nurtured mine. No matter how difficult or complex the person in front of us may be, I have learned never to stop looking for his or her gift, as those around me never stopped looking for mine."(less)

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Dec 19, 2009 Ari rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoed that "Sam" gave us a feeling of being almost in her life with her. I don't believe myself to have an LD, but I did have an IEP until it expired in my 8th grade year for math. It really can be hard to try and fit in in this world, when we are basically taught so well as to follow and be like everyone around us...I am glad that she was able to finally understand that that is part of our system and we all can get past it! I hope all is well for her now too.
I am doing prety well mys...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Huda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Huda by: Rules

Shelves: english-books, favorites, spec-ed

This book was recommended by Rules ;

Gifted and Disabled at the same time?
Samantha who was known as the wise , smart kid, reveals her story with the "dyscalculia" in this 200-pages-book.

How would it be like if you were not able to feel the sense of time?
When you refuse to go for a morning walk just bacasue you need to baby-sit at three P.M.!
When you spend so much time trying to open your locker?
and when you become ten years old and you still can't add or substract the numbers!!
All of that is sim...more

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Oct 26, 2008 Cortney rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ms Abeel took us through the journey of her learning disability, the pain, the loneliness, how the schools reacted to her learning disability. It was really eye-opening.

In some of the situations, I could completely relate to her. As she described the anxiety she felt in math class, I felt her pain. I do not have a learning disability, but I struggled with math in school (as she did and still does) and always felt anxious in class about being called on. I didn't want the other students to see how...more

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Nov 19, 2007 Celeste rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teens, teachers

Shelves: readinthepast, 2007

I wanted to like this book, and I did within the first 50 or so pages. I guess I should lay off memoirs for awhile. There's a self-importance that just irritates me. I find myself wanting to scream at the narrator to "just get over it already!" and "to get help, dude."

Ok, this book was an interesing peek into the life of someone dealing with a learning disability. As a teacher, I found it intriguing, and it made me wonder how many of my own students are living with undiagnosed learning disabilit...more

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About Samantha Abeel

Samantha has a degree in English from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. First published at the age of 15, her book, Reach for the Moon won the 1994 Margot Marek Award for best book on the subject of learning disabilities, the Distinguished Book Award from the International Reading Association and was named Best Book for Teen Age by the New York Pu...more

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Quotes from My Thirteenth Winter: ...

“In seventh grade, false feelings and false faces are the rule.” — 6 people liked it

“We all come unique packages with strength and weakness, and somewhere there is a precious gift in all of us” — 4 people liked it

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title link	preview: My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/284495.My_Thirteenth_Winter?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328869628l/284495.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/284495.My_Thirteenth_Winter?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir by Samantha Abeel[/url]

My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir

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