Benedetta is an autistic girl living with tuberous sclerosis, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. She is navigating adolescence. Her passion for the Harry Potter saga gives her an imaginary friend and an alter ego. The book unfolds as an exchange of emails between mother and daughter. The author — Benedetta's mother — devises an ingenious solution: she opens an email account and writes to her daughter as Harry Potter himself. What follows is a long and intimate correspondence.
Through this creative strategy, the mother experiments with a genuine alternative educational method. It honors her daughter's emotional, affective, relational, and pedagogical needs. She accepts and acknowledges Benedetta's condition, yet remains deeply aware that she is raising an adolescent searching for identity — grappling with the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of growing up: personal hygiene, relationships, managing her own illnesses.
Like all teenagers, Benedetta finds it easier to accept advice and reassurance from her friend Harry than from her mother. Yet through Harry's voice, her mother helps her face difficulties, calms her fears, broadens her interests, and builds her confidence.
This is a compelling read — not only for its thoughtful pedagogical insights, but also for the questions it raises about any educational relationship built on even a small deception: how far can you take it, and when do you stop?
Elisabetta Aglianò, 2017
