BOOK REVIEW for "No One Needed to Know" by D.G. Driver

****(4) out of 5 Stars!

SYNOPSIS:

Heidi’s brother, Donald, is 16 and Autistic. She has always loved playing with him, but now she's 11 and her life is changing. She’s embarrassed to have her brother around and tries not to tell anyone about him. High school boys bully him. When the kids at her school find out about him, she gets bullied too.

It’s not fair. No one seems to understand what she's going through.

But Heidi needs to understand too. She can't change her brother, but she can change how she feels about him, and she can get people to see why her brother is special. 

REVIEW:

I found this book painful to read.  I was hurt for Heidi and all the bad things she had to deal with, especially when her so-called friends started bullying her.  And why did they pick on her?  Because she had a special needs brother.  Of all the stupid reasons!  I just wanted to smack the people who were mean to her and Donald.  Of course, at some points, that included Heidi.  It upset me how mean she often was to her brother, just for being himself.

As the mother of a son with Autism (mine a couple of years younger than his sister), I really felt for Donald.  I remember how my kids, now 19 and almost 17, used to play and have so much fun together.  But, much like Heidi in the story, my daughter eventually got to where she felt herself too old to do so.  I still vividly remember the day my son told her, "I sure miss when you were nice and would play with me."  That about broke my heart!  And those were the same type of feelings that I had reading this book.  

I was glad when Heidi finally had a name to put to Donald's problems.  Some people fear labels because they are afraid they will pidgeon-hold people, especially those with special needs.  But for those of us to live with them, it is often just easier to deal with and understand if you can put a name to the behaviors they exhibit.  

I was also glad when Heidi finally started pushing back against her bullies.  I felt that having them help out in the special needs classroom was a brilliant idea.  Something that all kids should do sometime, regardless of their attitude toward differently-abled kids, but especially for those who pick on them.  I did think that Heidi could have handled things a little better in regards to the apologies from her classmates, but she was still dealing with her own issues as well.

I really enjoyed it when Heidi met Russell, and Alex.  To have someone in her life who dealt with many of the same issues with his own sibling, would certainly make her life easier to deal with and understand.  Not to mention that he had a great attitude about his brother and the other disabled kids he went to school with, including Donald. 

The last chapter was absolutely my favorite of the entire book!  I loved it!  Even though I found it very bittersweet in regards to my own kids.  

This is definitely a book that I recommend for kids with a sibling on the Autism Spectrum, or with any other disability, or who just want to broaden their horizons and learn a bit more about some of the many diverse personalities out there that make up our kalidescope world.  A great read especially in April for Autism Awarenesss Month!

MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY book suggestions: "un/FAIR" and "Hair in All the Wrong Places"

It's difficult enough to live in the neighborhood "freakazoid" house. It's even more difficult when you're autistic and neither your family nor best friend really understands you. So when Ryan November wakes up on his eleventh birthday with the ability to see the future, he braces himself for trouble. But even his newfound power doesn't help him anticipate that the fair folk—undines, salamanders, gnomes, and sylphs—want him dead, dead, dead. Ryan races to defend himself and his family against unrelenting danger from the fairy realm so he can uncover the truth about his family history—and himself. Except as Ryan's power grows, the more enticing the fairy realm becomes, forcing him to choose between order and chaos and power and family. And for an autistic boy, such choices are never cut and dry.

Check out my book review of un/FAIR here on So Few Books!

—

What has he done? 

What's happening to him? 

And what on Earth is that smell? 

For Colin Strauss, puberty stinks. Blackouts, hallucinations, and lapses in memory are the perils of growing up werewolf. 

Worse than that, Colin worries he might have had something to do with the recent attacks on the townspeople. He may have eaten a person. It doesn’t matter that it’s someone he doesn’t particularly like. What kind of boy goes around eating people? 

Foolishly, all Colin can think about is how Becca Emerson finally kissed him for the first time. Yep, hormones are afoot. Yikes! 

But girls will have to wait. Collin better get himself under control before someone else ends up hurt or worse . . . dead.

MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY book suggestions: "Polaris" & "un/FAIR"

Bixie, Montana, is in the middle of nowhere, not connected to any place, and not used as a pass through to get anywhere. But one snowy evening, a lone visitor walking down an old country road changes 13-year-old Aaron Martin’s life forever. Aaron thinks he’s being a Good Samaritan by inviting the nearly-frozen visitor into his home, but he’s unwittingly initiated The Game. A group of Elders, known as the Council of the Legend, come together from time to time to enjoy a rousing event they playfully call “The Game.” Now, Aaron’s town is the playing board and he and his fellow townspeople are the players. The rules are simple. Win. Because if Aaron loses, he won’t just lose his family . . . 

he’ll lose his very identity.

—

It's difficult enough to live in the neighborhood "freakazoid" house. It's even more difficult when you're autistic and neither your family nor best friend really understands you. So when Ryan November wakes up on his eleventh birthday with the ability to see the future, he braces himself for trouble. But even his newfound power doesn't help him anticipate that the fair folk—undines, salamanders, gnomes, and sylphs—want him dead, dead, dead. Ryan races to defend himself and his family against unrelenting danger from the fairy realm so he can uncover the truth about his family history—and himself. Except as Ryan's power grows, the more enticing the fairy realm becomes, forcing him to choose between order and chaos and power and family. And for an autistic boy, such choices are never cut and dry.

See my review of "un/FAIR" here on So Few Books!

REVIEW: un/FAIR by Steven Harper

****(4) out of 5 stars!

This is a very fun and enjoyable fantasy book!  I don’t tend to be a big fan of middle grade fiction, but this was a notable exception.  The writing was uncomplicated and the plot straight-forward enough for younger readers, but there were surprises at almost every turn.  New and different things were constantly happening that you wouldn’t necessarily expect.  Yet everything flowed together and the overall picture made complete sense. 

The fantasy elements of the story were very well developed without being overly complicated.  There were some things that were quite confusing at first, but as more is learned about the back story, things begin to make more and more sense.  And it all fits together wonderfully in the end.    

The characters were, by and large, very fun and quite believable.  Some of the mannerisms and speech patterns for some of them were a bit odd, but it just served to make them seem unique.

I loved that the story was seen through the eyes of a main character with autism.  This brought a whole new perspective and approach to the situation.  And as the mother of a son with autism, I appreciated just how real were Ryan’s many quirks, and how necessary his rules and order were to him.  Seeing things from his viewpoint helped explain some of his behaviors and decisions.  I especially enjoyed some of the methods that Ryan employed to overcome his more debilitating autistic tendencies.  Although I did find many of them to be rathe suspiciously mature for a boy of his age.  His most interesting cheat to me was his texting to his best friend Alison when he is unable to use his words to talk.

The thing that I disliked the most about this book, like almost all middle grade and young adult books, was how much Ryan and Alison hide from or neglected to tell his parents.  Usually, that is what puts the characters in a position to have the adventures that create the story, but as a parent I find it particularly annoying that many of their problems could be solved by simple communication with responsible adults. 

Nonetheless, I found the story delightful and would completely recommend it for middle grade readers on up.  The story was self-contained and complete enough that it could be a stand-alone book, but there was definitely a lot of material left unexplored that it could be developed into a series.  And I truly hope that the latter is the case! 

I received an electronic copy of this book free from Month9Books in exchange for an honest review. 

REIVEW: Do Lemons Have Feathers?: More to Autism than Meets the Eye by David J. Burns

*** (3) out of 5 stars

I did not enjoy the joke that started this book and precipitated the title of it, so that was a little bit of an off-putting way to begin. I did though enjoy the quotes that proceeded each chapter. There were also little stories that got each section underway, but they often didn’t seem to have much to do with the topic at hand, at least not to my mind. And the last couple of chapters didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the book, those two being on more personal issues for the author, includi I did not enjoy the joke that started this book and precipitated the title of it, so that was a little bit of an off-putting way to begin. I did though enjoy the quotes that proceeded each chapter. There were also little stories that got each section underway, but they often didn’t seem to have much to do with the topic at hand, at least not to my mind. And the last couple of chapters didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the book, those two being on more personal issues for the author, including the final chapter which was on religion, which I personally found rather off-putting. Still, there was a lot of good, insightful information contained in this book as to how the autistic mind often works. It gave a good general overview of life from that perspective for those of us on the more neuro-typical end of the spectrum who might have trouble relating. Actually, I think the best part of the book was the “Help Sheets” at the back! So, probably worth a read for the information and perspective it provides, but definitely not a favorite of mine. I received an eBook copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.