Jennifer Elder

Quinn is a boy who feels like he does not fit in. Through this book, Quinn learns about people from history that felt just like Quinn because they have the same struggles as him. I appreciate this book because it is meant to be read by someone with autism. It could also be read to find out about some of the struggles with great figures from history, but I feel it is a great way to help with the identity of a child with autism. It can be very frustrating knowing that you are different, but show more not knowing how to change who you are. This book shows that it is okay to be who you are and that it may one day end you up in the history books. Showing that having autism does not limit you from showing the world your strengths is an awesome an positive message and has a good focus on ability rather than disability. That is the big picture of this book. show less

When I opened this book, I was not expecting what I found. Instead of the pages flowing in order with each other, each page is about one famous person who had Autism. The page next to that is a picture of that person. I think this would be really cool to children because it is very unique with the way it is set up. It is not like a usual book. The main idea is to tell the reader about famous people who had Autism and how they still went about their lives and were very successful. I think show more this book was written to show children that it is okay to have a disorder and they want to show that to students by telling them about how even famous people had disorders. There was not too much text per each "hero" and the pictures were almost like painted cartoons. I think students would find this book engaging and even somewhat fun because of how different it is. I truly enjoyed this book. This book is definitely written for the reading ability of a fourth grader and older. show less

I really liked this book. It is the story of a little boy and his friend who has autism. They are making spheres out of clay and his friend says that the sphere is her planet. I loved how this book showed that individuals with autism see the world in different ways. This book shows that just because a person has autism it doesn't mean that they can't do things, they just do them a little different than other people.

I loved how this book was written in the perspective of the girl with autism. show more It shows that even thought she has autism she can still see the world as a better place where everyone is happy. I think that if we all thought like this then maybe the world may be a better place. I really liked how the individual with autism is a main character in this story as well and that they are seen as a real person and not seen as different. I really loved the illustrations as well. They are very colorful and bright and really compliment the story well.

There was one thing I did not like about this book though. The author does not use people first language. It says "my autistic friend" instead of "my friend with autism." I know this is a small thing in the book but as a special education major I was taught to always use people first language.

Overall, I really liked this book and would recommend it to everyone because they get the unique perspective of getting into the head of an individual who is autistic. show less

This book examines the lives of Albert Einstein, Lewis Carroll, Temple Grandin, and other very successful people in history who are either known or strongly suspected of having an autism spectrum disorder. The title is a bit misleading (as is much of the text), because many of the people included are believed to have had Asperger's Syndrome or some other PDD, not necessarily autism. However, that is beside the point. This book is an excellent early reader chapter book, especially for show more children who have an ASD or who have a sibling or parent with one. It gives them positive role models and something to aspire to. Furthermore, it can be very useful to have teachers read if they are going to have a child with an ASD in their classroom. There is still a misperception that a child with autism is doomed to a life of savantism, institutionalism, and repeating "Wapner starts at 11. Gotta watch Wapner." This is a great resource for those with high-functioning ASDs. show less