Did you know that April is Autism Acceptance Month? “Autism Acceptance Month is a great reminder that we can and should see the individual, not a diagnosis, and work together to advocate for the unique services and supports that help each person live fully,” said Christopher Banks, President and CEO of the Autism Society of America whose motto this month is “#CelebrateDifferences.” At Penguin Random House we publish the following excellent books, for children and adults, that help readers do just that and see individuals, not diagnoses:
MAGNIFICENT MINDS: THE NEW WHOLE-CHILD APPROACH TO AUTISM by Suzanne Goh, MD
An essential primer based on a renowned new model of care that is comprehensive and research based, while honoring the uniqueness of every child as new research has shed light on the many factors that determine a child’s trajectory—but many parents are still navigating this complex terrain without a road map. Pediatric neurologist Dr. Suzanne Goh has spent decades working with autistic children, and in this practical and research-based guide she shares her renowned and revolutionary model of care: an innovative, whole-child approach that combines optimal medical treatment with the most effective strategies for advancing cognition, communication, and behavior.
HARD LANDINGS: LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE FOR A CHILD WITH AUTISM by Cammie McGovern
After sleepless nights, intensive research, and twenty-one years of raising a child, Ethan, with autism and intellectual disability, Cammie McGovern is approaching a distinct catch-22. Once Ethan turns twenty-two, he will fall off the “Disability Cliff.” By aging out of the school system, he’ll lose access to most social, educational, and vocational resources. The catch is this: These resources, limited as they may be, have trained Ethan in skills for jobs that don’t exist and a life he can’t have…As Ethan makes his way into the world, McGovern also looks into the hardest question of all: How can we ensure an independent future when we’re gone? Hard Landings will serve as a renewed beacon of hope for parents who want to ensure the fullest life possible for their child’s future.
STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER by Fern Brady
After reading about autism in her teens, Scottish comedian Fern Brady knew instinctively that she had it—autism explained her sensory issues, her meltdowns, her inability to pick up on social cues—and she told her doctor as much. But it took until she was thirty-four for her to get diagnosed…A memoir as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, Strong Female Character is both a remarkable coming-of-age tale and a dark but poignant tribute to life at the intersection of womanhood and neurodiversity.
KIDS ACROSS THE SPECTRUMS: GROWING UP AUTISTIC IN THE DIGITAL AGE by Meryl Alper (MIT Press)
An ethnographic study of diverse children on the autism spectrum and the role of media and technology in their everyday lives. With an emphasis on what autistic children bring to media as opposed to what they supposedly lack socially, …Alper offers practical suggestions for the education, healthcare, and technology sectors to promote equity, inclusion, access, and justice for autistic kids at home, at school, and in their communities.
TEN STEPS TO NANETTE: A MEMOIR SITUATION by Hannah Gadsby
Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, their ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.
Click here for the spanish edition.
VISUAL THINKING: THE HIDDEN GIFTS OF PEOPLE WHO THINK IN PICTURES, PATTERNS, AND ABSTRACTIONS by Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
A landmark book that reveals, celebrates, and advocates for the special minds and contributions of visual thinkers. A quarter of a century after her memoir, Thinking in Pictures, forever changed how the world understood autism, Temple Grandin transforms our awareness of the different ways our brains are wired.
INTELLIGENT LOVE: THE STORY OF CLARA PARK, HER AUTISTIC DAUGHTER, AND THE MYTH OF THE REFRIGERATOR MOTHER by Marga Vicedo
Drawing on previously unexamined archival sources and firsthand interviews, science historian Marga Vicedo illuminates the story of how Clara Park and other parents fought against medical and popular attitudes toward autism while presenting a rich account of major scientific developments in the history of autism in the US.Intelligent Love is a fierce defense of a mother’s right to love intelligently, the value of parents’ firsthand knowledge about their children, and an individual’s right to be valued by society.
UNMASKING AUTISM: DISCOVERING THE NEW FACES OF NEURODIVERSITY by Devon Price
A deep dive into the spectrum of Autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked Autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society’s narrow understanding of neurodiversity. It’s time to honor the needs, diversity, and unique strengths of Autistic people so that they no longer have to mask—and it’s time for greater public acceptance and accommodation of difference. In embracing neurodiversity, we can all reap the rewards of nonconformity and learn to live authentically, Autistic and neurotypical people alike.
THE SCENIC ROUTE: EMBRACING THE DETOURS, ROADBLOCKS, AND UNEXPECTED JOYS OF RAISING AN AUTISTIC CHILD by Leigh Merryday Porch
In The Scenic Route, Leigh Merryday Porch offers insight into how parents of children with autism can redefine hope in a world that often has a narrow view of what hope is supposed to look like for their kids. As an educator and expert on autism spectrum disorders as well as the mother of a son who is autistic, Porch knows well the pressure parents of special needs children feel to overcome any and all challenges their children face. But not all disabilities result in heartwarming viral stories. According to Porch, we must write our own stories about what is possible for our kids and love them just as they are.
NEUROTRIBES: THE LEGACY OF AUTISM AND THE FUTURE OF NEURODIVERSITY by Steve Silberman
This New York Times–bestselling book upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently. NeuroTribes considers the idea that neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD are not errors of nature or products of the toxic modern world, but the result of natural variations in the human genome. This groundbreaking book will reshape our understanding of the history, meaning, function, and implications of neurodiversity in our world.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
A DIFFERENT KIND OF NORMAL: MY REAL-LIFE COMPLETELY TRUE STORY ABOUT BEING UNIQUE by Abigail Balfe
This is Abigail’s story about what it was like growing up autistic in a confusing “normal” world. With entertaining anecdotes and funny accompanying illustrations, Abigail details her experiences and explains some Very Crucial Information about autism. And about neurodiversity too— a word that celebrates the importance of all brain types!
I AM TEMPLE GRANDIN by Brad Meltzer, Christopher Eliopoulos
“I hope this book inspires you to overcome challenges and make a positive difference in the world,” —Prominent autistic American scientist and animal behaviorist Temple Grandin, 30th hero in this New York Times bestselling picture book biography series for ages 5 to 9.
I Am Temple Grandin spotlights female scientist Temple Grandin, whose experience being on the autism spectrum has informed her advocacy and her work as an animal behaviorist. Temple Grandin’s pride in being different and how it shaped her world is celebrated in this biography.
A KIND OF SPARK by Elle McNicoll
Perfect for readers of Song for a Whale and Counting by 7s, a neurodivergent girl campaigns for a memorial when she learns that her small Scottish town used to burn witches simply because they were different.
SHOW US WHO YOU ARE by Elle McNicoll
A neurodiverse twelve-year-old girl is shown an amazing new technology that gives her another chance to talk to the best friend she lost. But she soon discovers the corporation behind the science hides dark secrets that only she can expose in this heartwarming and heroic sophomore novel from the award-winning author of A Kind of Spark.
THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER by Maya MacGregor
In this queer contemporary YA mystery, a nonbinary teen with autism realizes they must not only solve a 30-year-old mystery but also face the demons lurking in their past in order to live a satisfying life. Sam Sylvester has long collected stories of half-lived lives—of kids who died before they turned nineteen. Sam was almost one of those kids. Now, as Sam’s own nineteenth birthday approaches, their recent near-death experience haunts them. They’re certain they don’t have much time left. . . .
For more information on these and related titles, visit Autism Acceptance Month 2024
For more information on autism and autistic people, check out these organizations:
Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN)
Autistic People of Color Fund
PenguinRandomHouse
nightmare (n) 1. a frightening or unpleasant dream with acute fear, anxiety or other painful emotion 2 a very unpleasant experience 3 a condition, thought or experience suggestive of a nightmare in sleep logic (n) 1 the science of principles of reasoning 2. good reasoning 3. correct or reliable inference Nightmare logic 1. The inexorable horror of bad dreams 2. that which lurks unsuspected in the shadows of the waking world 3. forgotten and unacknowledged pasts rising up to claim the present 4. the twisted raison d’ etre of things that should not be – but are. At the intersection of this world and others, unimaginable things can happen. With this collection of stories, Leigh Blackmore invites you to voyage with him into urban decay and otherworldly dimensions, to discover paranoia and unknown planes of existence, to experience realms of cosmic alienage, and the fantastic that lies at the heart of the real.
In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fifth literary whodunnit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case—a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound.
Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially-charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci. 
Parasite meets Such a Fun Age in a scorching debut that is as heartbreaking as it is thrilling, examining the intersection of race, class, and female friendship, and the devastating consequences of everyday actions.
