Why am I passionate about this?
When I was a young child, I lived in stories. However, as I got older, I lost my connection to writing and imagining. It was through a late-identified diagnosis of autism that I was able to reconnect with my creativity. Now, through my work as a children’s publishing specialist and volunteer at children’s book festivals, I am a champion of kids being able to see themselves in the stories that are published and promoted. I believe that young readers can develop a love of reading and a kindness for others through books that show the diversity of humanity.
Calyssa's book list on children’s books with neurodivergent protagonists
Why did Calyssa love this book?
I don’t often reach for verse novels, but Good Different wouldn’t let me put it down. Meg Eden Kuyatt created a character in Selah that was so reflective of my own experience that I ached and rooted for her to succeed. Her desire to be seen and heard is one that I know so many young readers relate to and is such a strength of this work.
3 authors picked Good Different as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.
A debut novel-in-verse about understanding and celebrating
your own difference.
Selah knows her rules for being normal.
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. 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.
As her comfortable, familiar world crumbles around her, Selah
starts to figure out more…
- Coming soon!