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A review by saidtheraina
Same But Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express: Teen Life on the Autism Express by Ryan Elizabeth Peete, Holly Robinson Peete
5.0
Charlie and Callie are twins. Charlie has autism. Callie does not. This is their story.
Same but Different is written by Holly Robinson Peete and two of her children, RJ and Ryan Elizabeth Peete. Holly is an actress who has shifted her focus to parenting and nonprofit work and writing. Her kids are twins, and mirror the experiences of Charlie and Callie, the characters in this story. According to the extra matter, Ryan Elizabeth wrote the chapters voiced by Callie, and RJ wrote the chapters voiced by Charlie. So, as I told the middle schoolers I booktalked this to, this book is about as close to nonfiction as you can get, while still shelving it in the fiction section - at least, as far as I can tell.
The plot isn't the emphasis here - I don't remember much about what actually happens in the book. It's all about the characters - these two kids, as they handle high school with autism or with a brother who has autism.
I find the graphic design of the book very interesting. Ryan Elizabeth's chapters are designed with a motif of straight lines. RJ's are introduced with a motif of scribbly lines. Which didn't quite ring true for me. In my head, straight lines connote left-brainyness, and tangled lines connote right-brainyness, and I think of people with autism as particularly left-brainy. So that seems less accurate. To me. Which could be wrong.
I guess if they were stuck with those two images and they paired the straight lines with the person with autism, some might see that as inferring that there is less going on in the brain of that person, which is CERTAINLY not true.
Meh. Imagery is complicated.
I do want to note the intersectionality of this book. In a year where I really wanted to feature marginalized voices, this is an #ownvoices book about both disability and being black. And being a twin, for that matter. When I started reading for this booktalking season, I was especially wanting to feature books that would underline that black lives matter, therefore a solid 4/12 of my booktalk choices are by black authors about black characters (at least two more are about black characters by authors of other skin tones). I was also motivated to pick it up because I expect to refer back to it when my kid (who has autism) hits high school, unless something better comes along. Which, hopefully, it will, since he's got about a decade until then.
We Need Diverse Books!
Extra star or two because of the uniqueness and legitimacy of the story.
Same but Different is written by Holly Robinson Peete and two of her children, RJ and Ryan Elizabeth Peete. Holly is an actress who has shifted her focus to parenting and nonprofit work and writing. Her kids are twins, and mirror the experiences of Charlie and Callie, the characters in this story. According to the extra matter, Ryan Elizabeth wrote the chapters voiced by Callie, and RJ wrote the chapters voiced by Charlie. So, as I told the middle schoolers I booktalked this to, this book is about as close to nonfiction as you can get, while still shelving it in the fiction section - at least, as far as I can tell.
The plot isn't the emphasis here - I don't remember much about what actually happens in the book. It's all about the characters - these two kids, as they handle high school with autism or with a brother who has autism.
I find the graphic design of the book very interesting. Ryan Elizabeth's chapters are designed with a motif of straight lines. RJ's are introduced with a motif of scribbly lines. Which didn't quite ring true for me. In my head, straight lines connote left-brainyness, and tangled lines connote right-brainyness, and I think of people with autism as particularly left-brainy. So that seems less accurate. To me. Which could be wrong.
I guess if they were stuck with those two images and they paired the straight lines with the person with autism, some might see that as inferring that there is less going on in the brain of that person, which is CERTAINLY not true.
Meh. Imagery is complicated.
I do want to note the intersectionality of this book. In a year where I really wanted to feature marginalized voices, this is an #ownvoices book about both disability and being black. And being a twin, for that matter. When I started reading for this booktalking season, I was especially wanting to feature books that would underline that black lives matter, therefore a solid 4/12 of my booktalk choices are by black authors about black characters (at least two more are about black characters by authors of other skin tones). I was also motivated to pick it up because I expect to refer back to it when my kid (who has autism) hits high school, unless something better comes along. Which, hopefully, it will, since he's got about a decade until then.
We Need Diverse Books!
Extra star or two because of the uniqueness and legitimacy of the story.