Andrew L Miller

THUMBS UP! Elliot Finds A Home Andrew L Miller

When an autistic child forms an exciting deep bond with a small dog who has thumbs onhis paws, the two experience adventures together. They discover that their uniqueconditions impact them with surprising advantages as well as disadvantages. The book's central characters are Elliot, a "deformed" Shetland Sheepdog born withopposable thumbs on his front paws, and Joseph, a nine-year-old boy with a congenitallevel on the Autism Spectrum. The series is told entirely from Elliot's POV as he watches Joseph through his dailystruggles, while capturing the parallels between Elliot and Joseph's respectiveconditions. Elliot cannot run or perform other "normal" canine tasks as readily as most dogs, but heexcels at things that other dogs struggle to do. Joseph struggles with social skills, buthis condition helps him to outperform the neurologically normal at other tasks. Autism isportrayed not as a defect to be overcome, but as a trait offering both advantages anddisadvantages. Each of the show's episodes will follow Joseph and Elliot learningsomething valuable and new, as seen through the intelligent eyes of a sweet andlovable little dog. Thumbs UP! is a made for television series.