Exploring NeuroIdiversity: GOOD DIFFERENT by Meg Eden Kuyatt

 

This month I am excited to share a post on a new middle grade book from author MEG EDEN KUYATT about a character who is on the Autism Spectrum. I had the privilege of reading an ARC for this novel in verse and posted an early review. 

Here is the book jacket blurb and my review for this important book with an authentic and relatable character.

 

An extraordinary novel-in-verse for fans of Starfish and A Kind of Spark about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.

Selah knows her rules for being normal.

She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.

Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.

Selah's friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.

But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late?

This is a moving and unputdownable story about learning to celebrate the things that make us different. Good Different is the perfect next read for fans of Counting by 7s or Jasmine Warga.

 

 

 

Here is my review:

I was given an ARC of this book to write a review.  I am so glad the book came into my life.

Raw, heartfelt, honest, and true are just a few of the adjectives that describe this powerful story of the life of a teen with autism. This novel in verse highlights the inner life of Selah, the main character who shares her struggles to fit in and follow the rules. Readers will cheer as Selah discovers her true nature through poetry and learns how poems can heal and help others understand. Poems allow her to discover her own truths and how to express her fears to her friends and family. A highly recommended story inspired by the author’s own life.