Review by Booklist Review
This beautifully written novel in verse follows one girl's journey as she learns that she's on the autism spectrum and comes to embrace herself. Seventh-grader Selah lives by her list of how to be a "Normal" person. This school year is already hard: best friend Noelle isn't in her class, her new school uniform is itchy, her homeroom teacher is loud, and her classmates think she's weird. It's exhausting for her to hold in all the bad feelings all the time. When Selah's annoying classmate Addie starts braiding Selah's hair one day without asking, Selah instinctively lashes out. She inadvertently hits Addie and gets suspended. As she learns more about her potential autism diagnosis, a supportive English teacher assures her she's not "damaged" and encourages her to express her feelings through poetry. Selah says, "I used to think / my rules could save me, make me happy, / but all I see now are the ways / they make me feel like I'm not enough." In an author's note, Kuyatt describes her own autism diagnosis, discusses masking and the degree to which the disorder is especially misdiagnosed in girls, and provides a list of resources and tools for autistic kids and their parents and educators. Ultimately, readers will empathize with Selah and rejoice with her as she learns to accept herself as she is.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Kuyatt's heartfelt debut, free verse poems explore middle school changes via the first-person viewpoint of an autistic 12-year-old. Selah Godfrey has always liked rules-oriented Pebblecreek Academy, where she knows exactly "what I'm/ supposed to do." But when she enters seventh grade, everything's different. Amid the crowded hallways, loud cafeteria, and itchy new uniforms, Selah's rules for "Being a 'Normal' Person" include resisting the urge to talk about dragons, remaining on her "Best Behavior," and otherwise masking until she can calm herself in the bathroom. When a classmate braids her hair without asking, and Selah's reaction causes a bloody nose, Selah is regarded as a social pariah and threatened with expulsion. Isolated from her peers, she takes the advice of her beloved, similarly wired grandfather and starts to write in a notebook, further finding her voice through a kind English teacher's poetry assignment. Kuyatt, who is autistic, uses candid lines to present Selah's story, conveying her mother's well-intentioned denial of Selah's needs, and Selah's own experiences, self-knowledge, and eventual self-advocacy. Selah is white. An author's note and resources conclude. Ages 8--12. Agent: Lauren Spieller, TriadaUS. (Apr.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3--7--Pien, star of television's As We See It about autistic roommates, who herself is an actor with autism, makes her audiobook debut in neurodivergent poet Kuyatt's first novel. Pien embodies Kuyatt's vulnerable verses featuring seventh-grader Selah who, despite being "the only dragon/ in a world built for people," has navigated thus far with her "Normal-person mask." Overwhelmed by unwanted touching, the resulting violent outburst makes her a "wild" threat at her once-welcoming school. Meeting others like her, discovering tools and accommodations, offers hope: "My story doesn't have to be/ Selah vs. Everything." Kuyatt earnestly reads her own author's note about being "different." Recognizing herself in a book with an autistic main character, she reveals, provided "a new perspective… everything started to make sense." VERDICT This neurodivergent trio of author, narrator, and protagonist should resonate with their shared experience and those not on the spectrum.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An autistic artist just wants to survive seventh grade. Selah, a White girl, is a "good kid," praised for her schoolwork--but inside, she's a "dragon." She can't abide noise, smells, or touches, and her mother has been extremely clear about hiding her differences in public. But her "normal-person mask" is fraying. When Selah is praised for getting an A on a test and there is loud applause, she thinks, "I want to crawl / under my desk." Eventually, Selah has a violent outburst: Now classmates and teachers treat her like a wild animal. In her notebook, Selah writes free verse about being a dragon--a metaphor for all her neurodivergent frustration with social norms. She worries that she shouldn't share her poetry ("My feelings are loud. Rude. / BIG. Sometimes / angry. Are those OK in poems?"), but the verses ultimately allow her to share her scary feelings. It's a revelation when she finds fellow neurodivergent geeks at FantasyCon. Happy, married adults use earplugs and sensory tools, wear color-coded communication bracelets, and speak calmly and without shame about their autism. Can these tools help when educators at her private school are hostile to autistic kids' needs? Can they help when even her neurodivergent mother doesn't want to recognize that Selah isn't "normal"? Through her poems, Selah believably mends her family and starts a movement in her school, showing readers ways that "different" can be wonderful. Short free-verse vignettes beautifully evoke despair, loneliness--and determination. (author's note, resources) (Verse fiction. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
