Anything But Typical/Nora Raleigh Baskin
Published by Scholastic Inc. in 2009/ 208 Pages
Realistic Fiction

Anything But Typical takes you through the life of a 12 year-old autistic boy who really is anything but typical. Nobody understands what Jason is going through and they treat him like he can’t do things on his own without needing to be helped.

Anything But Typical is written in a first person point of view through the eyes of Jason Blake who is a 12 year-old boy with autism that is trying to live his life similar to any other normal person, but can’t seem to do it without having to change himself so people will accept him. Jason, Rebecca, his mother, his father, his little brother Jeremy, Aaron Miller, Maggie, Miss Leno, Mr. Blake, Jason’s grandmother, Mrs. Blake, Suzy, Mrs. Hawthorne, Uncle Bobby, Aunt Carol, Seth,  Aunt Liz, Bennu, and others play important roles in this book. Anything But Typical takes place in Jason’s everyday life including at home and being at school. Jason is afraid that people will only see him with autism and not like a regular human being. The life of Jason Blake thoroughly expresses the struggle of being autistic. Jason likes to get on his computer online and post stories of any topic he can think of. Jason soon finds a person by the name of PhoenixBird who posts stories on the same website that Jason does. One day PhoenixBird or Rebecca comments on one of his stories and fantasizes about her being his girlfriend.

Jason thinks that Rebecca could be his first real friend but is scared that when he meets her, she will only see him through his autism and not as his true self and then reject him. Jason changes himself just for a person that he really wants to meet instead of being who he really is. Jason worries that what he is doing will not be enough to impress her. Jason misses the true meaning of being a real friend and not having to pretend to be somebody that he is not. Nora Baskin wrote his book very detailed through what Jason was looking at whether he was describing a person or just thinking in his head. Although this book is not written from a view of an actual autistic person, it still gives you snippets of what it would be like for you if you did have it. “’Jason, this one is free,' the lady says. She puts her hands on my shoulders. This lady is a lady I should know, but her face looks like a lot of other faces I don't know so well, and I group them all together. Her face is pinched, but her eyes are big, round like circles. Her hair doesn't move, like it's stuck in a ball. She belongs in the library or the front office or my dentist's office. But she is here now, so I will assume she is the librarian. I know from experience that she is trying to help me, but it doesn't. I can feel her weight on my shoulders like metal cutting my body right off my head. This is not a good thing. I also know she wants me to look at her…”

I recommend Anything But Typical to anybody who goes through the struggles of fitting in and in order to fit in, you don’t have to change who you are.