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david_l's review
challenging
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is a story to autistic kids from the perspective of an autistic kid. It’s a little refreshing to see the narrative from the other side in this book to help autistic kids understand neurotypical kids better. I love the theme that different ways of thinking are just as valid and should be just as valued.
kelinelle's review
4.0
This book is centered in an neurodiverse (autistic) perspective, and that is so hard to come by. I feel like most of the books I've read about neurodiversity are from the neurotypical sibling's perspective. But what really got me is the note to parents at the end. They say that the CDC says that 67/68 children are neurotypical. This is a reversal of the usual ableist rhetoric when people cite the Center for Disease Control for the rising numbers of autistic children. Neurodiversity is not a disease.
_justlillian_'s review
4.0
I loved that this story centered on an autistic child, and flipped the script so the neurotypical was the “other” to be accepted/tolerated. It was refreshing. I do wish this were written by an autistic author rather than parents of an autistic child. Diversity in authors for youth is critical, and there’s a troubling pattern of parents of autistic children speaking “for”/over them.
opalescence's review
5.0
Genius; probably my all-time favorite children’s book. I love satire, and so the framing device of talking about “neurotypical” people the SAME WAY they talk about autistic people is genius, refreshing, and such a fun time. I’ll always read this book if I need a smile.
agf523's review
5.0
I honestly really appreciated the way this book was written. It highlights a neurotypical person from the perspective of a neurodivergent person and points out all the things the NT person does that are different, but it's okay they do things differently when that is what would typically be considered "the norm." It really shines a light on how neurodiversity is often portrayed in children's books for young readers.
choirqueer's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book -- both because of how the book centers the autistic protagonist and because (except for one pronoun used in the explanatory text in the back of the book) the protagonist is not assigned a gender :-) The book flips the script for children's books of the "why is this child different?" variety, revealing the absurdity of normalizing neurotypicality. I think adults who have experienced neurotype-based marginalization will enjoy this book as much as (or perhaps even more than) children.
I will say that I wish there were more children's books where neurodivergence is an element of the story but not the primary focus, but I wouldn't hold it against this book that it didn't do that.
I will say that I wish there were more children's books where neurodivergence is an element of the story but not the primary focus, but I wouldn't hold it against this book that it didn't do that.
antlersantlers's review
3.0
This is a nice picture book from the perspective of an autistic child, and his experiences with trying to understand a neurotypical friend. All brains are different, and I like that this is flips the usual script that disabled people are the ones you need to be assured are OK too.
There are so many books about a huge spectrum of identity issues where the thought ends with "...and that's OK!" Of course it's OK, but telling the reader that it's OK implies that someone (the reader, the writer, whoever) thought it wasn't. This book flips that trope and applies it to the ableds of the world. They're not disabled ... and that's OK!
I wish this was written by an autistic person instead of parents of an autistic person. We need more own voices writing for children about neurodiversity.
There are so many books about a huge spectrum of identity issues where the thought ends with "...and that's OK!" Of course it's OK, but telling the reader that it's OK implies that someone (the reader, the writer, whoever) thought it wasn't. This book flips that trope and applies it to the ableds of the world. They're not disabled ... and that's OK!
I wish this was written by an autistic person instead of parents of an autistic person. We need more own voices writing for children about neurodiversity.