We’re Amazing 1,2,3! A Story About Friendship and Autism

We’re Amazing, 1, 2, 3 is a good book about friends and also about autism. It was written by a writer named Leslie Kimmelman. There are many characters who understand that it is important to have a friend. I can relate to Julia, the character who has autism. My experience with autism is sensory—I have a hard time with social skills and friends, which this book is about. My brother David’s experience with autism is he has a hard time with language (“Wanna go to da bathwoom (bathroom)”) and behaviors (saying “BOO!” and, very rarely, hitting), just like Julia. “Sometimes Elmo talks to Julia using fewer words. And sometimes Elmo says the same thing a few times.” (Which kind of drives me crazy.) I do some things a little differently, too. When I need to do hard stuff at school or at home (e.g. doing a hard test), I dawdle. That’s right, I dawdle. Julia also does the things that I do. “Sometimes she hears noises that Elmo doesn’t notice. Like the noise the blender makes. She really doesn’t like it!” As someone on the autism spectrum, I enjoyed the book, and I think it is important for anybody to read, even people without autism.