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Synopsis (Full manuscript is available now)

     Victor and Me is the story of Ben, a student with an IEP, navigating middle school by day and time traveling by night, with his buddy Victor, the wild boy of Aveyron, the first ever documented special education student. Think "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" meets "Hank Zipzer". 

      Things start with a trip to Dr. Lazar for an HPV shot. Ben blacks out and lands in a French forest, more than 200 years earlier. There he encounters Victor, the wild child of Aveyron, who happens to be Ben's most beloved picture book character. Victor leaps from a tree to defend his lunch, only to discover that the intruder is Ben, his number one fan!

      Ben begins middle school, where he transitions from a small special education class to an integrated classroom with a mix of all kinds of students. In the first weeks, he feels self conscious about having an IEP, gets dumped by his best friend, is bullied by his best friend's new BFF, and has his first crush. As a slower student, Ben senses that the grading system is stacked against him. He and his pal from speech class are suspended for defacing the honor roll. His parents go nuclear and ban him from trick or treating.

      As hairy as things get, come night time, Ben opens his Victor book and escapes. Victor and Ben form a special bond. Victor introduces Ben to his spirit friends from the past, such as Brad Lomax, the Black Panther, who was part of the longest sit-in for disability rights, and Alan Klein, of Queer Nation, who reclaimed the word "queer" from the haters. Ben meets fired up parents like Ann Greenberg the mother of a son with developmental disabilities, who sparked the Parents Movement, and thick skinned students, like Valerie Schaaf, who started People First.

      When Ben learns that his brother Will, the person he trusts most, is dating the very student that called Ben "a retard", Ben nearly loses hope. But then, inspired by a teacher, who admits to her own learning challenges, Ben runs for class president on a platform of Honor Roll for All. In the course of his campaign, Ben is suspended a second time and faces being struck from the ballot.

      Victor and his spirit pals intervene. All of Ben's classmates and friends rally to his side. Ben loses the election, but he wins back his best friend and even his crush. Most of all, Ben no longer sees himself as a victim of an unfair system, but as an activist empowered to make change. Ben's source of shame becomes his well of pride.

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