For those of you that don’t know, it’s Autism Awareness Month! In all honesty, I probably should have made my Read to Resist post about this instead of sexual assault. So, I’m writing about it now! It’s popped up occasionally on Twitter, but I haven’t seen many blog posts about it. I decided to do some research and see what books I could recommend that feature autistic characters.
I did quite a bit of research to ensure that the books included on this list were as accurate as can be in terms of realistic portrayals of autism. However, books featuring autistic characters are seriously lacking. Definitely something that we need more of! The focus is often on diversity in race, gender, and sexuality that they forget about ability. This group needs accurate representation too.
Often, portrayals of autistic characters tend to focus on one end of the spectrum. So, I tried to find books that represented the variety. I did my best! If you have better recs, I am all ears.
Books for Autism Awareness Month
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
This is a book I read when it first came out back in 2009. I know, that’s 10 years ago (what?), but this book actually has an autistic protagonist with a first person point of view. From what I can tell, most of the reviews of the portrayal of autism as positive, like this one. Stork is also a beautiful writer, and his books always hit on diverse issues and include diverse protagonists.
Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik
I actually reviewed this book a few years ago, and though the autistic character isn’t the main character, there are a lot of important discussions about autism within the book. Since it comes with an author who has an autistic child, the representation is real and authentic.
The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle
So, I didn’t know that this book had autistic rep! It was on a book list from Diversity in Kid Lit, and the reviews on Goodreads mostly praise the way that autism is represented. Plus, it’s a love story, and apparently it’s adorable. I know it’s definitely going on my TBR!
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
And now we have a science fiction book! Trying to include a variety of genres is important because diverse characters should be included in all kinds of books, not just one type. This one has a lot of diversity, too, include a transgender and a bisexual character! The real question is, why am I just hearing about it now??
M is for Autism by The Students of Limpsfield Grange School
To include even more variety, here’s a collection of stories from girls at Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each element is about what it’s like to live with autism, presenting a variety of stories from a variety of points of view.
What books should I add to my list? As I’m trying to read more diverse, so I will take all the recommendations I can get! 😊