Do You Know Me?

March 15, 2021
Challenges continue for an autistic sixth grader as she joins her class in a weeklong end-of-year campout. Following Can You See Me? (2020) teenage author Scott and adult co-author Westcott draw upon Scott's personal experiences to portray middle schooler Tally's responses to stressful situations--both at home, where she's faced with a 12th birthday celebration, and at camp, where everything is new, including a particularly vicious mean girl. As before, the tale is told in the third person with entries from Tally's journal, in which she explains her responses to events and offers guidelines for neurotypical readers. In those entries she comes into focus as not just a mouthpiece, but a character with a distinct, individual voice. Tally is mobbed by understanding allies, including not only her parents and older sister, but a sensitive camp counselor who is in charge of a shelter for rescued pets, two fellow campers who are also neurodivergent, and a formerly trusted classmate who is sincerely remorseful about her role in a devastating incident. With their support and her own growing understanding of how to head off incipient meltdowns and to communicate her own needs clearly, Tally transforms what promises at first to be a disastrous failed experiment into a successful, memorable experience. Aside from some name cues the cast presents White. Heavy on instruction and behavior modeling, but there's a sturdy enough storyline to bear the weight. (Fiction. 9-12)

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May 14, 2021

Gr 4-6-The follow-up novel to Can You See Me? continues the story of Tally Adams, sixth grader extraordinaire. Tally has many parts of being an almost-12-year-old autistic kid figured out. Chapters written in the third person explain Tally's life and her days at home and school. Between chapters, readers get insight into Tally's personal thoughts through journal entries. Tally and her class are wrapping up the school year (one that was evidently fraught with the oh-so-normal change of best friends) by attending GoCamp for a week. This is no small task for a girl who is managing her anxiety on a day-to-day, and sometimes minute-by-minute, basis. Tally's parents and teachers assure her she will be fine at camp and can handle this, despite all of her fears. At camp, things get off to a rocky start, complete with mean girls and bullying. Fortunately, Tally perseveres and finds she has more friends than she realized and has gained a few more along the way. Tally, who is white, is very self aware and conscious of her autism; the lists she includes in her journal entries of how she would like teachers and friends to treat her are fantastic recommendations for anyone. VERDICT A great fit for any middle grade collection, particularly those wanting to showcase how differences can help people connect with one another. Hand to readers who enjoyed Cynthia Lord's Rules or Holly Goldberg Sloan's Counting by 7s.-Kim Gardner, Fort Worth Country Day Sch., TX

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