Kids Like Us by Hilary Reyl

Synopsis

“Martin is an American teen on the autism spectrum living in France with his mom and sister for the summer. He falls for a French girl who he thinks is a real-life incarnation of a character in his favorite book. Over time Martin comes to realize she is a real person and not a character in a novel while at the same time learning that love is not out of his reach just because he is autistic.”

-Synopsis from Goodreads

Review

This was such an emotional book! From the very beginning it was reminding me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, which I read a number of years ago. I remember that one being a tough read for me, too. I don’t have a lot of experience being around children or teens who are autistic. Both of these books put you right into the shoes of the main character, in both cases an autistic boy navigating school, friends, family, and everything in between.

Martin is such a likable character. As I reached the end of the book I realized just how much I would miss reading about him. I sympathized so hard for not only him but his mom and sister who struggled just as much as he did with everything about this summer: their temporary move to France for his mom’s movie shoot, and Martin enrolling in summer school.

There are so many layers to this story beyond just a teen with autism navigating his first crush. Martin’s world is vastly more complicated than it appears on the surface, and the way he deals with the obstacles in his path is nothing short of inspiring. I would highly recommend this to anyone, teens and adults alike.