Reviews

This book was an exquisite window into an autistic mind. So much was explanatory and new to me. It was heartbreaking and instructive. The forward was incredible.

deschatjes's review against another edition

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5.0

Something every parent or adult around a neuro-diverse child should read no matter the diagnosis just to gain empathy and understanding

ihateprozac's review against another edition

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5.0

This is such an interesting read! I was prompted to pick it up for the neurodiversity prompt in #diversitybingo2017 and I’m so glad I did, because autism is something I really should make the effort to learn more about.

The Reason I Jump is a Q&A style non-fiction book where a 13 year old boy with autism, Naoki Higashida, explains the various facets of his autism experience and why autism causes him to behave in certain ways. Rather than hearing from a scientific perspective, or from a parent’s perspective about how difficult it is to care for a family member with autism, we get to hear firsthand from someone about how their autism affects them and how to accommodate someone with autism and make them feel supported, rather than a burden.

We get to see firsthand how draining autism can be on someone, and the frustration of not being able to communicate effectively, perceive time, and filter through emotions, memories, and sensory input. We get to hear a person with autism share all their hopes and dreams, their interest in the world, and it’s clear that Naoki and others have such a keenness to learn about the world and thirst for knowledge, but autism makes it a little more difficult to study and retain this information.

I was floored at how articulate this book is - not purely because it’s written by an autistic author, but because it’s written by a thirteen year old author communicating using an alphabet grid. It’s cohesive and concise, and Naoki is able to so clearly articulate things that I’d likely struggle with as a twenty-something reader and writer. The book also includes a beautiful short story written by Naoki at the end, demonstrating that Naoki has a clear flair and talent for writing.

Overall: If you’re looking to find out more about autism and hear firsthand from an autistic person’s perspective, look no further. The Reason I Jump is a compelling and articulate insight into one person’s autism experience, and how we can better support our friends and loved ones with autism.

bookhoarder76's review against another edition

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3.0

I received this book as a gift from a wonderful friend because my youngest son has Autism. I was very excited to read this book with the hopes of gaining some insight into why my son does some of the things he does. I must say I did find some of what I was looking for and am very happy I took the time to read this book. I had a few light bulb moments. That said I must say that I do question as some of the other reviewers of this book have as to if this is actually a 13yr olds words. Autism or not sometimes it's very questionable. It's also sad to me in a way because it appears based on several statements in this book that this young boy is very depressed. All in all it was a good read and I liked how it was set up in a Q&A sort of way that makes it easy if you so choose to skip over the ones that do not pertain to your child (I personally read them all) because as we all know each and every child with Autism is different! If you do not have a child on the spectrum or even if you do I would NOT take this book as a tell all and written in stone sort of way because the things said in this book are NOT true for ALL children with Autism it is ONE person's view even though he tends to speak for the whole Autism community by saying "us", "we", etc. it's just simply not the case. So if this is your only point of reference for Autism I suggest you keep looking there is much much more out there don't stop here.

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