M is for Autism by Vicky Martin and Students of Limpsfield Grange School

Synopsis (from the JKP Website) 

My thanks go to Jessica Kingsley Publisher's for providing me a review copy of this book. 

Pages: 93

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publisher's 

Released: 1st of July 2015

M. That's what I'd like you to call me please. I'll tell you why later.

Welcome to M's world. It's tipsy-turvy, sweet and sour, and the beast of anxiety lurks outside classrooms ready to pounce. M just wants to be like other teenagers her age who always know what to say and what to do. So why does it feel like she lives on a different plane of existence to everyone else?

Written by the students of Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder with communication and interaction difficulties, M is for Autism draws on real life experiences to create a heartfelt and humorous novel that captures the highs and lows of being different in a world of normal.

What I Have to Say 

This was a beautiful look inside the autistic mind. While being a very simple story, it brought up all the issues of being autistic and trying to fit in, while being un-diagnosed so not even really knowing for sure if you are in fact autistic. The whole book looked at the question of what it was to be different and in fact what is normal actually is. 

The thing that most made me interested in this book was that the main character, M, was female. There aren't that many books about autistic females and when there are, they tend to show the same symptoms as the boys, when the fact is that often the females show very different symptoms. Also the mention that it's really hard to find information about autism in females and how a lot of places still define it as a disorder only found in boys,. 

Naturally the main draw of this is that it is actually written by students of a school that specialises in Autism. The illustrations and style of the book does a lot to show how it is to be autistic and have your brain overload with data. 

For a group of students writing a little book, it was very good. Obviously it was simple. I'd love to see some do something like this as a proper novel. 

Anyone who has any interest in autism and especially autism in girls should definitely read this book.