5 out of 5 stars
I would like to thank Future Horizons for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley, in exchange for an open and honest review.
I read, and am therefore, reviewing this book with my 8 year old HFASD son. He is the one that gave the rating as this is a book more for him than me.
My son, who I refer to online as Horde#3, read ‘In My World’ to me (with a little help on some words) and said it was a “wonderful, colourful, good, great, perfect story on persistency”.
We discussed ‘In My World’ after we had read it and I explained how it was about people accepting Autism as being a different way of seeing the world and helping that world and ours become more accessible. My son said it was all about all the amazing things he can do in his head and how, with the help of friends, those things can start to happen outside of his head too.
He also loved that it was a picture book about a child like him, who has Autism, and how it is shows what we call his superpowers (Amazing Autism) is in others too just waiting to come out.
Now for my review – I loved the images and colours used, the interaction of the boy in his world, the colour changes to demonstrate the differences and the basic beauty of it all.
Being Neuro Diverse myself (and having three ND kids) I would have liked to seen a girl and her Amazing Autism too… But the book is about “MY” world and so justified as to why it is only about a boy. Maybe a girl’s one can be done? As Amazing Autism does “hide” in girls in different ways to boys. Maybe I am just being to modern and new age about it all! 😉
The graphics and layout are excellent. My son loved seeing all the little things the pages had in them. And I, personally, loved the meditating picture and would happily have it framed and hung on a wall in our house it was just so…. RIGHT! It’s hard to explain, but that single picture spoke volumes through its colours, shading and depiction of the child connecting to his inner calm. So beautiful.
Would I recommend this book to others?
Yes I would… and not just to people with ASD kids. Possibly not even to kids who are Neuro Diverse. This is a book about explaining how we are all different. Where inside us the world is one way and we can do all these amazing things… and the outside world can be scary and hard to follow without the right guidance and acceptance of our differences. Whether that be our different perspectives of the world, our different languages, cultures, etc.
‘In My World’ isn’t just about Autism. It is about difference and how easy it is to accept, assist (if needed) and embrace it.
So yes, if you have a child at this level of reading (age is not the factor, their reading level is) then yes I would recommend this book as it teaches some important skills about differences and acceptance.
Would I buy this book for myself?
Yes I would. I will need to see if it is available in Australia in the paper form as I found it such a calming, interesting and fun book to read, or have read to me. Simply gorgeous.
In summary: This story is about a lot more than autism, it’s about different and acceptance. Highly recommended.
Janis's Journal 