Last night, I had a reading bug and spent the evening reading Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass. With an annoying insomnia spell and a little time before work in the morning, I was able to read it from start to finish. To be fair, it’s also a middle-grade book, so it’s a quick read.
The novel follows Ellen, an autistic middle schooler, as she embarks on a summer class trip to Barcelona. Ellen is navigating her changing relationship with her best friend and hopes the trip will bring them closer together. Except it doesn’t. Add in a scavenger hunt, plans gone awry, and a new nonbinary classmate that has Ellen questioning her view of the world and her own identity.
I don’t read a ton of middle grade, but A.J. Sass did a couple of events with Lin when The Best Liars in Riverview debuted and I felt like I had heard enough about their book that I had to read it.
I’m glad I did. I haven’t read many books where one of the main characters is autistic (May The Best Man Win is a YA book I loved where one of the narrators is autistic), and the queer rep was excellent. I’m grateful, and a little envious, that kids today have access to books like these.
I should read more middle-grade books. Every time I do, I adore them. There are a couple of fantasy middle-grade books coming up that I’m looking forward to, so stay tuned.
With Love,
Natalie