Counseling Education Bibliotherapy Reading List: Autism

Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school.  But Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder. When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right off she's trouble.  But she's also strangely irresistible.  All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble.  But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away. Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their families.  Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to free himself from the "good boy" stance he's taken his whole life.

Daisy White was not crazy. Clumsy maybe, but definitely not crazy. In this exciting adventure story, Daisy, who has autism, defeats her bullies and overcomes her fears with the help of Buster, a very special rabbit. All is going well until a terrible fate threatens Daisy's new friend Cody. Will Daisy be able to gather her courage and special talents to save him? Buster and the Amazing Daisy is not just a humorous and engaging story. It will also give its readers an insight into the hopes and dreams, as well as the fears and frustrations, of many children with autism.

From an exciting new voice comes a candid and witty look at feeling different and finding acceptance-beyond the rules. Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public!"-in order to head off his embarrassing behaviours. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

When Todd is both happy and anxious about trying to fit in with the regular fifth grade class but feels confused about how to relate to his former friends in the Special Needs class, a school assignment on the exploited pygmy, Ota Benga, helps give him confidence and clarity.

Jason Blake is an autistic 12-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does. Jason can be himself when he writes and he thinks that PhoneixBird-her name is Rebecca-could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to met her, he's terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca wil only see his autism and not who Jason really is. By acclaimed writer Nora Raleigh Baskin, this is the breathtaking depiction of an autistic boy's struggles-and a story for anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.

Carol Gray combines stick-figures with "conversation symbols" to illustrate what people say and think during conversations. Showing what people are thinking reinforces that others have independent thoughts - a concept spectrum children don't intuitively understand. Children can also recognize that, although people say one thing, they may think something quite different - another concept foreign to "concrete-thinking" children. Children can draw their own "comic strips" to show what they are thinking and feeling about events or people. Different colors can represent different states of mind. These deceptively simple comic strips can reveal as well as convey quite a lot of substantive information.   The author delves into topics such as: What is a Comic Strip Conversation? The Comic Strip Symbols Dictionary Drawing "small talk" Drawing about a given situation Drawing about an upcoming situation Feelings and COLOR