This book is a bit challenging to review, since it's written by the author as a 16-year-old student, and her intent is for it to be read by support staff. It's also unusual in that it's the first book I've come across where there haven't been any Amazon reviews at all, despite there being used copies available.
I'm basically writing two separate evaluations to reflect the two different perspectives the book can be reviewed from.
And Caitlyn, if you are reading this, which I'm sure you will since people like to Google themselves, please forgive me if I seem harsh, for as you know, blunt honesty is a part of being on the spectrum.
1) As a school project: A- / A
If I'm looking at this in terms of a year-long school assignment / project, this is a solid introspective work. She candidly touches on a very wide variety of topics, her thoughts, and experiences. For example, she speaks of her special interests, but also openly discusses her concerns about ABA.
2) As a book: 3.5/5.0
This is a valuable book on the perspective of a female teenaged autistic who grew up knowing they were on the spectrum, and with various support workers, with mixed experiences.
That being said, it's also somewhat evident that this book is intended as a bit of a "let me tell you about myself" to teachers, support staff, and others who interact with her. An open extended letter or diary, and the cover art, to be honest, also looks more like a diary book cover than anything else.
She makes frequent references to "CEA" (Certified Educational Assistant) without ever defining the term, there are some typos, and some sections are rather disjointed and jump awkwardly between themes.
In short, this self-published book (by the way, both the publisher website and her own website as listed on the back cover are dead links) could have really benefited from better editing, and it seems that perhaps editing and review were tossed by the wayside in a rush to get the book published, which is unfortunate, as this had the potential, as a rare teenager-perspective book on autism, to be much more.
