A review by snazel
A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold
5.0
Really well done story about an autistic boy. We've got supportive family and teachers, a main character who isn't punished or mocked by the narrative for doing things differently, an acknowledgement that it can be difficult for people to communicate with someone who's mind works differently, and it isn't ABOUT autism. It's just a story about discovering what you want and proving you can go after it, about working things out with family and making friends.
On a personal note, it was pretty painful to read the first probably third of the book, as I kept cringing at how oblivious the main character was to social cues. He isn't botching cues, he's missing them entirely. And then I remembered how aware I was of subtext at that age, and realized "oh man that's pretty close to me". I've really worked hard to be aware of subtext and the things that are hinted at, and that can sometimes translate into me screaming at myself internally about all the things that are going wrong, sure that everyone will be mad at me if I mess it up. But that didn't happen in this book. He "messed things up" under my metric, and things worked out. That was remarkably soothing.
PLUS THE EYE CONTACT THING. So a classic victory condition of books about autistic characters is that they learn to make eye contact. They learn to make real human connection through eye contact. And in this book, not only is Bat not punished for not being into eye contact, he tries it out with a new friend and decides it isn't for him. His friend's eyes are nice to look at, but he's not reading anything special from them, in terms of learning who the person is or making "real human connection". Instead he looks at his friend's hands and how he uses them, and learns from that. That is a.) far more accurate to how I read people's character and moods than their eyes, b.) something I have never seen in a book before. The acknowledgement that the magic eye contact "read a person's soul in their eyes" doesn't work for you, BUT that doesn't mean that you can't read a person's soul through other means. That was pretty awesome.
PLUS THE EYE CONTACT THING. So a classic victory condition of books about autistic characters is that they learn to make eye contact. They learn to make real human connection through eye contact. And in this book, not only is Bat not punished for not being into eye contact, he tries it out with a new friend and decides it isn't for him. His friend's eyes are nice to look at, but he's not reading anything special from them, in terms of learning who the person is or making "real human connection". Instead he looks at his friend's hands and how he uses them, and learns from that. That is a.) far more accurate to how I read people's character and moods than their eyes, b.) something I have never seen in a book before. The acknowledgement that the magic eye contact "read a person's soul in their eyes" doesn't work for you, BUT that doesn't mean that you can't read a person's soul through other means. That was pretty awesome.