The boy who inspired the most moving bestseller of the year
IT’S THE publishing sensation of the year: a compelling, uplifting and heart-rending debut novel.
Author Keith Stuart’s No1 bestseller, A Boy Made Of Blocks, tells the story of an eight-year-old autistic child who overcomes his inability to communicate with his father in a very unusual way.
Yet what fans of the novel may be surprised to learn is that the author based his fictional account on the true story of his own son Zac and his family’s remarkable struggle with autism. It’s a tale every bit as touching as the novel.
Keith and his wife Morag, both 45, first noticed Zac’s limited vocabulary when he was a toddler, but assumed that he would catch up. As he grew older, however, Zac’s difficulties increased.
‘Although bright, his limited vocabulary and habit of mixing up letters left him frustrated and unable to convey his feelings,’ recalls Keith. ‘When he wanted to tell us about his day at school, he just couldn’t grasp the words. We would try to guess, but if we guessed wrong two or three times, he would break down. It was so frustrating.’
But then Keith, the video games editor of a national newspaper, started to notice his son’s instinctive ability to get to grips with new technology.
‘If you showed him an iPad, he could work out how to use it straight away. I showed him simple PlayStation games and he became really interested,’ he says.
But it was a prototype version of a clever new computer game that really fired Zac’s imagination. Shortly after Zac’s diagnosis, Keith was sent an Xbox 360 demonstration game called Minecraft, which has since become a global sensation.
Players build houses and castles out of blocks, hence the title of Keith’s book.
They are presented with a vast natural environment in which they can also plant seeds, dig mines or search for buried treasure. The calming piano music that provides the soundtrack also seemed to have a calming effect on Keith’s son.
‘I had an inkling he might like it because you’re not told to do anything – you can do what you like,’ says Keith. ‘But it’s predictable, unlike the real world, where the rules change all the time. As soon as I switched it on and showed Zac what to do, he was off.
‘Suddenly, we couldn’t stop him talking. It taught him that he could take part in family discussions – as long as we’re happy talking about video-gaming.’
Now 11, Zac attends a mainstream school – and still spends a few hours every week playing Minecraft at the family’s home in Frome, Somerset.