Amanda F. Doering

This book is about a boy named Nick who's best friend, Zack has autism. He has the most fun with his friend despite his autism and took the time to understand his ways. I loved this book because it shows that even if the situation may seem weird or different to someone else that we share some of the same interests. I loved that there were footnotes to explain why a person with autism may have a hard time with noises or even understanding certain social cues.

"My Friend Has Autism" is written from the viewpoint of a friend of Zack, who has autism. I really enjoyed reading this book as if a child was talking to me about his friend. It makes the information friendly and definitely on a level that other children would understand and relate. The friend, Nick, describes every day situations of someone with autism like their intelligence, focus, word repetition, sensitivity to sounds, and preferences. He explains why Zack doesn't like certain things, show more and compares them to his own dislikes instead of immediately thinking the situation is weird or different. There are also helpful "Did You Know?" bubbles on each page with facts about autism. The illustrations and common theme of model planes strings the book together and is used as a commonality and a connection. show less

This book introduces us to Sarah- a character with down syndrome- which I think is great, but I feel like the book only slightly touches on the condition; I don't think a child will understand down syndrome any better after reading this book, but it does show the reader that Sarah likes doing the same things that any other kid likes to do.

This book is of good quality. It shows the reader that people with Autism are normal. Not only does it tell a story of someone whose friend has autism, it gives facts about people who have autism, and the facts tie into the story. One such fact is, "many kids with autism can seem impolite. They don't understand that it's rude to walk away from someone who's talking to them." This is on a page that's showing the main character's friend walking away while he's showing him a magazine he got. show more
It also doesn't show the character with autism as someone who can't do anything. He's just another one of this boy's friends. This promotes awareness and acceptance of autism. show less