This was a heart breaking read, written from the point-of-view of a girl, Tally, who is autistic and has to navigate all the pitfalls of middle school. It's truly educational look into her mind, and how her life unfolds, and what challenges she has to confront, every day, from sensory input to resisting being told what to do. For all that it ends for Tally on a note of self-acceptance, you still get the feeling many of her classmates don't accept her, or they do, but only because they've been called out.
Tally's starting middle school. She's had a fairly sheltered elmentary school experience, and has best friends she's counting on in middle school.
But middle school is very different. It starts off similarly, with her friends being inclusive and including her in their group, but as the year progresses and they change, but Tally doesn't, things get very nasty, very fast.
Tally tries, she really does. She tries to be something she isn't, but no matter what she does, it isn't enough. There's a bully who makes things way worse, and a theater teacher who kinda gets Tally's needs, but not all the time. And there's Tally's own reluctance to let anyone know she's autistic.
There's a tipping point, at which Tally's friends foresake her and don't stick up for her, and she decides she's just going to be who she is and if others can't see her for what's inside, she doesn't need them. It's both liberating and sad at the same time.
This would be a great addition to a middle school classroom library for promoting acceptance of neurodiversity and all its complexities.
