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Neurotribes

Steve Silberman

This New York Times–bestselling book upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently.

“Beautifully told, humanizing, important.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Breathtaking.”—The Boston Globe
“Epic and often shocking.”—Chicago Tribune
 
WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NONFICTION AND THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD
 
What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.  Going back to the earliest days of autism research, Silberman offers a gripping narrative of Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, the research pioneers who defined the scope of autism in profoundly different ways; he then goes on to explore the game-changing concept of neurodiversity. NeuroTribes considers the idea that neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD are not errors of nature or products of the toxic modern world, but the result of natural variations in the human genome. This groundbreaking book will reshape our understanding of the history, meaning, function, and implications of neurodiversity in our world.

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All My Stripes

Shaina Rudolph

Zane rushes home to tell his mother about problems he faced during his school day, and she reminds him that while others may only see his "autism stripe," he has stripes for honesty, caring, and much more.

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Things I Should Have Known

Claire LaZebnik

An unforgettable story about autism, sisterhood, and first love that's perfect for fans of Jenny Han, Sophie Kinsella, and Sarah Dessen. New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things Julie Buxbaum raved: "I couldn't put it down."

Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who's decided that her older sister, Ivy, who's on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy's special needs class.

Chloe would like to ignore Ethan's brother, David, but she can't--Ivy and Ethan aren't comfortable going out on their own so Chloe and David have to tag along. Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen yogurt dates and movie nights, Chloe is forced to confront her own romantic choices--and the realization that it's okay to be a different kind of normal.

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Tully and Me

Keeley a Shaw

Tully and Me explores a friendship built on differences and understanding. Tully represents an individual affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder. The unique characteristics associated with Autism are portrayed including an affinity for counting and order, and a love for visual stimulation. Whimsical watercolor illustrations help to showcase a unique friendship that is nurtured through adversity and understanding. Tully and Me explores a world where our differences and the universal language of a smile bring us together.

Everyone who enjoyed The Dot by Peter Reynolds, We're amazing 1,2,3 by Leslie Kimmelman and Marybeth Nelson, and I'm Like You, You're Like Me by Cindy Gainer will enjoy this read as well!

This book is an excellent teaching tool for lessons on diversity, autism, individuals with special needs, and accepting and curating friendships with people who are a just a little bit different. It is a beautiful story for families to share. This picture book is appropriate for children and adults of all ages.

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Henry, Like Always

Jenn Bailey

A Schneider Family Book Award Winner 

A Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book 

A NPR 2023 Books We Love Pick

A School Library Journal Best Book of 2023 

A 2023 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book 



A beginning chapter book series based on the award-winning picture book, A Friend for Henry!



Henry likes Classroom Ten. He likes how it is always the same. But this week, Henry's class will have a parade, and a parade means having Share Time on the wrong day. A parade means playing instruments that are too loud. A parade means this week is not like always.



Join Henry as he navigates the ups and downs of marker missiles, stomach volcanoes, and days that feel a little too orange. From the creators of the Schneider Family Honor-winning picture book A Friend for Henry, this warmly funny book starring a child on the autism spectrum is a reassuring read for school-bound kids of all stripes.







GREAT FOR BEGINNING READERS: With short chapters and simple text, this book is perfect for newly independent readers who are just moving into longer books.



BACK TO SCHOOL: Familiar school scenarios--from new schedules to making new friends--are portrayed with humor and understanding in this series that will appeal to and reassure any child starting or continuing in school.



DIVERSE STORIES: Representing neurodivergent kids is a vital aspect of expanding diverse representation across books for all ages. Henry, Like Always provides a mirror and a window for kids on the autism spectrum and their friends to see themselves in the stories they read.



AN AWARD-WINNING TEAM: Jenn Bailey and Mika Song were awarded a Schneider Family Honor Award for their picture book A Friend for Henry. See how the story continues in this classic-feeling early reader series based on the same character!



Perfect for:

  • Newly independent readers
  • An excellent resource for parents of kids on the spectrum
  • Librarians, teachers, and booksellers looking for a children's book that offers a window into the experience of autism
  • A reassuring read for kids with varying levels of social anxiety
  • Gift-givers looking for a sweet and relatable book about friendship
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The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Andrew Joseph White

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
A Stonewall Honor Book in Young Adult Literature!

A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.

New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its guts to the world—so long as the school doesn’t break him first.

Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White’s much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.

A Stonewall Honor Book in Young Adult Literature
A Chicago Public Library 'Best of the Best' Book
A Locus Award Finalist
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book!
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year!
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

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In a Different Key

John Donvan

"Nearly seventy-five years ago, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi became the first child diagnosed with autism. Beginning with his family's odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autism--by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different. It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed cold and rejecting "refrigerator mothers" for causing autism; and of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments. Many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism; lawyers like Tom Gilhool, who took the families' battle for education to the courtroom; scientists who sparred over how to treat autism; and those with autism, like Temple Grandin, Alex Plank, and Ari Ne'eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed the philosophy of neurodiversity. This is also a story of fierce controversies--from the question of whether there is truly an autism "epidemic," and whether vaccines played a part in it; to scandals involving "facilitated communication," one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys; to stark disagreements about whether scientists should pursue a cure for autism. There are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behavior; and the authors reveal compelling evidence that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, participated in the Nazi program that consigned disabled children to death. By turns intimate and panoramic, In a Different Key takes us on a journey from an era when families were shamed and children were condemned to institutions to one in which a cadre of people with autism push not simply for inclusion, but for a new understanding of autism: as difference rather than disability"--

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The Reason I Jump

Naoki Higashida

“One of the most remarkable books I’ve ever read. It’s truly moving, eye-opening, incredibly vivid.”—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
NPR • The Wall Street Journal • Bloomberg Business • Bookish

FINALIST FOR THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE FIRST BOOK AWARD • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

You’ve never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within.
 
Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?” “Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?” “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?” and “What’s the reason you jump?” (Naoki’s answer: “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.”) With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights—into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory—are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.
 
In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki’s words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. “It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship.” This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they’d be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Naoki’s book, in its beauty, truthfulness, and simplicity, is a gift to be shared.

Praise for The Reason I Jump

“This is an intimate book, one that brings readers right into an autistic mind.”Chicago Tribune (Editor’s Choice)

“Amazing times a million.”—Whoopi Goldberg, People

The Reason I Jump is a Rosetta stone. . . . This book takes about ninety minutes to read, and it will stretch your vision of what it is to be human.”—Andrew Solomon, The Times (U.K.)

“Extraordinary, moving, and jeweled with epiphanies.”—The Boston Globe
 
“Small but profound . . . [Higashida’s] startling, moving insights offer a rare look inside the autistic mind.”Parade

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