My 13th Winter

My Thirteenth Winter is a phenomenal memoir of Abeel ’s life as she struggled with a disability named dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is an Impairment of the ability to solve mathematical problems, usually resulting from brain dysfunction. As she succeeded in all other subjects, the concept of basic math, she could not quite grasp. Samantha tells us her life story before and after she was diagnosed with dyscalculia.

I Learned a great lesson from this book, be thankful for what god has given you. This book makes you really think about disabled children, adults, and elders, not being “able” is tough. I never thought about it until I read this book, It was my first time reading a book like this, and I've never heard of dyscalculia before. Abeel enlightens me on what she was diagnosed with it really hit home for me. Truly not being able to do something you have a passion for such as education, it's depressing and disappointing.
The dialogue really helps me to grasp the concept of what's actually going on in each memory. Abeel continuously used words of encouragement in the book, either it was towards herself or the reader, I loved that Idea, it helped the book be more eye opening and not so eye closing. Her Honesty with herself was very refreshing. She knew from the start that she wasn't going to get all the problems correct in order to receive ice cream but once her teacher saw that she was trying she let her get some ice-cream but she knew that she didn't deserve it. “I can't feel any joy. I haven't earned it.” pg