Andrea Torres - Review 1

[Andrea]

I loved the book “Anything But Typical”. I think it gave a possibly real and accurate look into the mind of a pre-teen autistic boy, Jason Blake. I fell in love with this character. He was such a smart young man, great with computers and a talented writer who wanted to express his feelings but struggled to do so. I think the author, Nora Raleigh Baskin, did a fabulous job portraying this boy. I honestly think many people can relate to this story, as we were all pre-teenagers at one time, and struggled with confidence, and can hopefully appreciate how difficult this time in our lives were. Then add to it all the extra feelings, and you have an amazing read!

Jason Blake’s character seemed to talk a mile a minute, while explaining in vivid detail his feelings. He did not want to be touched. He worried, and this caused his skin and hair to hurt. He stressed his mother out, for she did not think he loved her, (although, as a parent you know this is untrue, but you worry anyway) because he could not show her his love. He did know he loved her, though, but could never bring himself to touch or answer her to reassure her. They eventually get it right….

Jason does not do well with chaos. He is not a fan of his art class, it is far too loud. He is not a fan of PE, or as he refers to as Physical Education, he does not like the letters P and E together. But he does enjoy his writing class especially when he can get on “his” computer that takes him to his Storyboard. Storyboard is his escape, where he can tell tales for others to read! One of his stories attracted Phoenixbird aka, Rebecca. She loves his writing, they eventually form a friendship, and help each other with writing. He is sure that she is his girlfriend. The story sends Jason to Dallas to a Storyboard Convention, where small worlds collide, Rebecca will be there too. He is not at all happy about this and hopes that he can get out of going. He worries that Rebecca will not like him after she sees him. I could go on, but, I’ll leave it there. Read this book!