Tag Archives: Neurodivergence

YA – Difficult Girls

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Bane, Veronica. Difficult Girls. Delacorte Press. 2025. 978-0-593-90398-8. $19.99. 329 p. Grades 9-12.

Greta Riley Green has a new job at Hyper Kid Magic Land. She’s hoping that along with this job comes a fresh start after a scandalous incident makes her infamous. While avoiding social media and trying to hide as much of her past as possible, she is also trying to hide parts of her present as she tamps down her quirky personality. Greta wants to reinvent herself as PERFECTLY NORMAL. She astutely observes the hierarchy of park employees: the performers, the technicians, and the ushers – like herself. Things are off to a good start as she seems to make friends with Mercy Goodwin, possibly the best performer on staff. But then Mercy goes missing and Greta stumbles upon some clues that suggest Mercy may have suffered the same fate as another promising performer found dead in one the park’s rides decades earlier. Greta will have to lean on her co-workers and maybe even let them get to know the real her in order to solve the mystery before it’s too late.

THOUGHTS: Difficult Girls is a solid mystery whose diverse cast of characters makes it an enjoyable ride. Greta is highly anxious and she seems to have an imagination bordering on the delusional. Nonetheless, she is an endearing hero who many teens will find relatable. I had a pretty good idea of who the villain is, but there were plenty of plausible red herrings that kept me second guessing. Readers of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Truly Devious will enjoy this stand alone mystery.

Mystery

Elem. – Wish in a Tree

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Hunt, Lynda Mullaly. Wish in a Tree. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2025. 978-1-524-73968-3. $18.99. Unpaged. Grades K-3.

Oliver always has been a little different. While his classmates sit quietly and complete their assignments, he struggles to sit still. He has trouble focusing on his work, as his mind wanders easily. This causes one student in his class to make snide remarks, upsetting Oliver. However, with the help of a few other classmates, Oliver soon realizes that his imaginative and curious brain truly is an amazing thing. Albert’s inventive thoughts and the characters themselves are illustrated using a wide variety of media (such as finger paint, pencil, crayon, chalk, watercolor, and more), emphasizing the message that diversity and differences are what make the world a beautiful place.

THOUGHTS: Young readers, especially those who are neurodivergent, will appreciate this book’s uplifting message about compassion and acceptance. Elementary teachers might also use this title to introduce the concepts of synonym and metaphor, as Oliver tells his friends they’re “like a couple of ants” and proceeds to refer to them as his colony–because “in an ant colony, everyone matters.”

Picture Book

YA – This Moth Saw Brightness

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Vacharat, A.A. This Moth Saw Brightness. Dutton Books, 2025. 978-0-593-69860-0. $20.99. 436 p. Grades 9-12.

‘Wayne “the D is silent” Le is a high school senior whose apathetic attitude about school disappoints his father and makes life a struggle. When D is invited to participate in a selective, prestigious health study through Johns Hopkins University, he accepts – the cash “reward” as well as the health insurance and letter of commendation make the pills he has to take during the study and the daily quizzes worth it.  Plus, it’s something that D’s father can be proud of, which hasn’t happened a lot since his mother left and abandoned him and his family 8 years ago. It also gives D the opportunity to have conversations with his crush Jane, who is also participating in the study. When Jane and D’s best friend Kermit, a tech genius, starts having second thoughts regarding the study, they find themselves in a mystery of possibilities and government conspiracies. Things really start to get interesting. The creative formatting of the book (short chapters, screenshots, dialogue scripts, and footnotes) helps to make this a quick and engaging read that includes diverse characters (D is half Vietnamese, and Jane is autistic.) and a thrilling storyline. 

THOUGHTS:  Although this book is not labeled anywhere as dystopian, it certainly seems to fall into that category – the clinical trial possibly controlled by the government as well as the selfie theme park and mall that “sells” experiences add to the futuristic, meta elements of the story. This book was a lot of fun to read – it was funny and engaging and kept my attention. There are a lot of things in the plot that teens will relate to – mental health issues, parental issues, experiences with technology, etc.

Science Fiction

MG – The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez

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Paulino, Jasminne. The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2025, 978-0-593-85931-5. $18.99. 304 p. Grades 5-9.

Alex Ramirez has spent his educational career within a self-contained classroom. However, this is beginning to leave Alex bored and unchallenged doing the same type of worksheets over and over again. Alex dreams of going to space and being an astronaut, he watches video after video on Youtube about Rockets and NASA. But nobody believes he will actually be able to accomplish his goal of becoming a NASA Rocket scientist, while in a self contained (SC) classroom. Alex is FINALLY sick of everyone else telling him “he can’t” or that “he’s not ready” and so he decides to advocate for himself and show them that he truly is EXTRAORDINARY! 

THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this novel. I think it highlights the realities of students who may feel like they are being held back in the self-contained classrooms and unable to really stretch their legs and grow. I also really enjoyed seeing Alex advocate for himself within the pages of the book and hope that resonates with some other students as well! 

Realistic Fiction
Novel-In-Verse

Elem./MG – ThunderBoom

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Briglio, Jack. ThunderBoom. Illustrated by Claudia Dávila. Kids Can Press, 2023. 978-1-525-30496-5. 128 p. $16.99. Grades 3-6.

Logan, a nonverbal child, wants to attend a holiday parade with his family. In order to attend, he will have to cope with his fear of masked people and other things. After arriving at the parade via train with his family, Logan is separated from his mom and dad. While on his own, he channels the power of ThunderBoom, his imaginative superhero alter ego, to help a lost neighbor girl, Becky, find her mom. Logan is reunited with his family quickly, and he concentrates on his super powers to repel anything that scares him.

THOUGHTS: This short graphic novel offers a unique window into a nonverbal child’s deep imagination. The author includes very little dialogue throughout the story; the emphasis on emotions and images make this an accessible graphic novel for all upper elementary and middle grade students. The author’s note includes information on Angelman’s Syndrome, the causation behind the character Logan’s nonverbal and developmental behaviors within the story. Brilgio also explains in his author’s note that Logan’s character is based on his own son, Lucas, and Lucas’s experiences living with the same genetic disorder.

Graphic Novel

MG – Good Different

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Kuyatt, Meg Eden. Good Different. Scholastic Press, 2023. 978-1-338-81610-5. 346 p. $18.99. Grades 4-7.

Selah, a seventh grader at Pebblecreek Academy, is on sensory overload. All her life, Selah’s mother has encouraged her to hold in her feelings—to be ‘Normal’—in public settings, but everything begins to crumble after Selah begins to feel her inner ‘dragon’ trying to escape. In a moment of desperation, Selah hits a classmate who keeps touching Selah’s hair. This impulsive action puts her status as a Pebblecreek student into question. With the help of a teacher, a friend, and her Pop, Selah works to learn more about herself and express feelings through poetry. Unfortunately, not everyone is empathetic or kind along the way. Selah is neurodivergent; throughout the verse novel, she begins to discover her triggers and how to navigate (rather than hide) her feelings and emotions in this moving coming-of-age story.

THOUGHTS: Written in verse format, this story has powerful emotional depth and offers readers a realistic window into growing up on the autism spectrum. Fans of stories like Forget Me Not, Real, Can You See Me?, and Counting by 7s will love Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt, a neurodivergent author. Because Selah goes undiagnosed for a large part of the story, the book sheds light particularly well on struggles that girls on the autism spectrum often face as they feel they must mask their sensory feelings, passions, and emotions. This title is highly recommended for all middle grade literature collections.

Realistic Fiction