Mini-Review

This short book is a clearly written, positive and informative guide to autism aimed at tweens and younger teens (its subtitle is ‘A Practical Handbook for Autistic Teens and Tweens’). Its authors are both autistic and are clearly advocates.

As a family member of an autistic person, I very much appreciated its happy, upbeat vibe, and its valuing of difference.

It contains plenty of interesting tidbits, such as famous people with autism (e.g. the inventor of Pokemon!), autistic characters (e.g. Luna Lovegood), benefits of autism, the difficult bits, and lots of little vox pops from autistic teens & tweens. It also has some workbook style sections, where readers can write down their own thoughts or responses.

This would be a great addition to a school library, as part of a health and wellbeing collection. School libraries are loved and appreciated by many of our autistic students, and we love and appreciate them right back. Having resources like this helps to inform and affirm them as valued people in our school community.

112 pages. Suitable for years 5 to 8, or for older interested persons!

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Purkis, Y., & Masterman, T. (2020). The awesome autistic go-to guide: A practical handbook for autistic teens and tweens. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

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