A review by whathillarygraceread
Real by Peyton Goddard, Carol Cujec

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was suggested by the duo behind @disabilityreadathon (@geekygimp and @nymeria941 ) and I am SO glad they introduced it to me. I loved it so, so much. Real is the story of a nonverbal girl with autism and one half of the duo who wrote it is nonverbal and autistic and while I don’t share those specific identities, there is so much general disability truth in this book that I felt very seen. Even though this is a middle grade novel, I love that the book doesn’t shy away from really hard topics like the institutional abuse of disabled kids, a lot of the able bodied/neurotypical world’s skepticism of facilitated communication and what it’s like to live in a nonverbal body that doesn’t always cooperate. 

I love that this book exists in the world and hope that middle grade readers everywhere are discovering it and loving it as much as I did. 
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