The State of Grace by Rachel Lucas

Grace is trying to make sense of the world, but because of her autism, she feels like she’s the only one without a rule book. She has a great best friend and an amazing horse, but things are starting to fall apart at home with her parents’ relationship (and her little sister can be really irritating). On top of that, she really fancies a boy named Gabe, but she’s not sure where to even start with that. 

I really like the way this book debunks some of the stereotypes about autism, like autistic people have no emotions and they are all amazing at maths. It does a great job of showing how Grace can get overwhelmed by lots of social time, and sensory things like lights and noise.

I really felt for Grace because she feels weird and out of place a lot of the time, and she seems tired of the challenge to act ‘normal’. In fact, she wants so much to be normal and accepted that it drives her to do something dangerous, which she ends up completely regretting. It reminded me of times in my life when I should have listened to my gut and shut down stupid ideas in their tracks. BUT, it also reminded me that it’s okay to make mistakes. 

“I think what I’m trying to tell you, my dear, is that it’s okay to get things wrong.” 

This is a book for exploring #autism #neurodiversity #familytension and has #adhd rep. 

Video review here