ReadingGroupGuides.com - The Whitest Wall by Jodee Kulp

The Whitest Wall
by Jodee Kulp

List Price: $14.95
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780963707260
Publisher: Better Endings New Beginnings

Jodee Kulp is an international award winning speaker and advocate for families and persons with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).She has presented in United States, Australia, Canada, and Sweden. She served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Organization of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (www.mofas.org) for ten years. Mrs. Kulp is the author or co-author of eight books supporting healthy and creative approaches to living with FASD.

Together, Karl and Jodee help professionals and families utilize strategies to support young people and adults with this often hidden disability. They currently live in the Midwest with camaraderie of canines, felines and avians.

top of the page

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: We do not yet understand the full causes of autism and do not have a way to prevent it. One out of 150 live US births is born with autism spectrum disorder. Every 21 minutes another child is diagnosed with autism. It has become an epidemic in our nation. As many as one million American's are currently living with some form of autism. The majority of these individuals diagnosed with autism will require lifelong supervision and care.

Fortunately, we do understand how to prevent another disorder that presently affects one out 100 live births in the United States. That’s at least 40,000 US babies born each year with PREVENTABLE brain damage - 50% more than with Autism. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are 100% preventable. The solution is simple - don’t drink alcohol while pregnant.

My nonfiction books Families at Risk, Journey to Life, Best I Can Be, The Long Way to Simple and Our FAScinating Journey reach out to a niche market of parents and extended families of loved ones with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD); and professionals in the judicial, education, social service and medical fields who work and support persons with this disability. I set out to create a book that could access the general population in realism, and introduce true to life characters and the specific needs of persons with FASDs.

Q: Give us an idea of the plot/subject without giving too much away.

A: When a violent murder rocks a small Midwest town, residents are quick to point fingers at the “not quite all there” young man, Kevin, working at the local garage. But as Kevin struggles against the allegations of murder, the damage caused by his mother’s alcohol abuse during pregnancy becomes more and more evident. All those touched by Kevin come to recognize the debilitating effects of alcohol on unborn children.

Q: What is the primary message you’d like your readers to take away from this book? (If a novel, is there an underlying theme?)

A: That people with fetal alcohol brain damage and others who are differently brain abled can live and grow old successfully within our communities. That the more we understand their needs, interests and unique characteristics, the greater opportunity they have to be successful in life. They are a very lovable people.

Q: Tell us about your writing process.

A: I write each character’s voice separately on a timeline so I really get into the heads of my characters. Then I weave voice strands into a tapestry.

Q: Who are your favorite authors and who influenced your writing?

A: Tory Hayden --- she keeps her characters real for the audience and mixes her professional knowledge into an understanding of issues children and families face without blaming or shaming.

Q: What are you reading right now?

A: The Angel Inside by Chris Widener.

Q: Can you offer a glimpse into your “real life” and share with us a bit of your personal life --- Outside of writing, what’s important to you (i.e., hobbies, passions, causes, family)?

A: I enjoy cooking, gardening and dog training. My professional field is graphic design, illustration, writing, editing and communications. This career path has allowed me flexibility in my advocacy work and the skills I need to produce materials that give a voice to the voiceless.

Q: Tell us something surprising about you and/or something very few people know about you.

A: I have piloted a loop in an airplane, paddled whitewater for 200 miles in Canada and scuba dived with sharks. Three prerequisites for parenting a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders? Creativity --- persistence --- risk.

Q: Would you be willing to share your biggest challenge/failure and how it changed your life? How about your biggest success, personal and/or professional and how it affected your perspective?

A: In 1997, on my 42nd birthday Dec 20 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, on Dec 21 my little brother who struggled with alcohol discovered he was going to be a surprise father, on December 22 our adopted 12 year old was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol and we finally knew why she struggled. Our complex daughter had fetal alcohol brain damage. On December 23, I was given an appointment to my new oncologist, Dr. Savage, My future sister-in-law preferred her doctor’s name - Dr. Miracle. The early morning, December 24 appointment declared my issue serious. Merry Christmas --- so begin my new journey.

I prayed to be relieved of this burden, I promised to lay my life down for all the people who have fetal alcohol. I was into begging big time! I promised to let the world know about fetal alcohol, learn all I could and help people who live with this brain damage daily. I begged to live and be healed. I had no idea what I was promising or begging.
Days before surgery at our church service, the usually eloquent scripture reader hemmed and hawed leaving me wondering if the cat had his tongue. He surprised every one by stepping out to take a public risk -
Jodee Luke 10:19 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. 20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pronounce your healing.”

At that moment my stomach begins itching deep inside and continued to itch until the day of surgery. The surgery surprised everyone --- especially the medical professional --- there was NO CANCER. Given the gift I was given, I put my faith in He who healed me and kept my promise --- my new baby became the millions of children throughout the world affected by fetal alcohol.

Q: What’s next for you? Anything else you’d like to offer?

A: I am in the middle of finishing Tiger Butterfly, Book Two of the Bootleg Brothers Trilogy and editing Bear in Mind a collaborative project with young adults who have FASD.

© Copyright 2012 by Jodee Kulp. Reprinted with permission by Better Endings New Beginnings. All rights reserved.

• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.

top of the page