Celebrating Neurodiversity: Books for Teens

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An, Na

Sixteen-year-old Grace is in a race against time--and in a race for her life--even if she doesn't realize it yet... She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared--fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace's father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world's top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed. Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough...and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn't?

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Chim, Wai

When Anna Chiu is not looking after her brother and sister or helping out at her father's restaurant, she's taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. Her father's new delivery boy, Rory, is a welcome distraction, and soon Anna is starting to feel like a normal teen. But as her mother's condition continues to decline, her family questions everything they understood about themselves and one another. -- Adapted from jacket.

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Cook, Jennifer

Being a teen or tween is tough for anyone. And if you're on the Autism Spectrum, life can feel like a game you're playing without knowing the rules. Jennifer Cook knows - she's been there! Her internationally bestselling handbook is the key to unlocking those unwritten, often confusing, not-so-obvious social guidelines and bolstering confidence, all at once. Finally, teens can play the game of life with instructions. The 10th Anniversary Edition of The (Secret) Book of Social Rules reveals the essential secrets behind the baffling social codes surrounding making and keeping friends, dating, and catastrophic conversation pitfalls, with all-new content on social media and talking about neurodiversity. It's no wonder Jennifer's is the navigation tool tens of thousands of fans have come to love! Full of brand-new funny illustrations, take-it-from-me explanations, and comic strip examples, this Book of the Year award winner is real, positive, and speaks from the heart (without ever sounding like your mother's guide to manners). It's confidence, humor, and smarts. For the Human Spectrum.

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Darbon, Mel

Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So when they're split up, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even cross London and travel to Brighton alone, though the trains are cancelled and the snow is falling. Even though any girl might find that hard, let alone a girl with Down's syndrome.

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Gomez, Halli

Ten: three little letters, one ordinary number. No big deal, right? But for Troy Hayes, a 16-year-old suffering from Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, the number ten dictates his life, forcing him to do everything by its exacting rhythm. Finally, fed up with the daily humiliation, loneliness, and physical pain he endures, Troy writes a list of ten things to do by the tenth anniversary of his diagnosis--culminating in suicide on the actual day. But the process of working his way through the list changes Troy's life.

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Henry, Katie

Ellis Kimball, sixteen, whose anxiety disorder causes her to prepare for the imminent end of the world, meets Hannah, who claims to know when it will happen.

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Housman, Ivelisse

Iselia "Seelie" Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde...but as an autistic changeling left in the human world by the fae as an infant, she has always known she is different. Seelie's unpredictable magic makes it hard for her to fit in--and draws her and Isolde into the hunt for a fabled treasure. In a heist gone wrong, the sisters make some unexpected allies and find themselves unraveling a mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike. Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister and herself?

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Jackson, Tiffany D.

When her friend Monday Charles goes missing and Monday's mother refuses to give her a straight answer, Claudia digs into her disappearance.

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Leavitt, Martine

Born on the day the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, seventeen-year-old Calvin, a schizophrenic, sees and has conversations with the tiger, Hobbes, and believes that if he can persuade the strip's creator, Bill Watterson, to do one more strip, he will make Calvin well.

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MacGregor, Maya

An autistic nonbinary eighteen-year-old moves to a new town and school with the support of their loving father and finds friends in an LGBTQ-plus club, but they all must come together to solve the decades-old murder of a teenage boy and confront the demons lurking in Sam's past.

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McNicholas, Ann-Marie

This practical skills guide helps young people with specific learning differences (SpLDs) including dyslexia, DCD/dyspraxia and ADHD study for their exams. Students with SpLDs can often find exams challenging and can experience a good deal of anxiety around exam time, leading to exam results that may not accurately reflect their capabilities. Much exam stress arises from a lack of confidence with the ability to learn and retain information in a meaningful way. This engaging workbook is designed to help students to overcome these issues. It not only shows students how to develop a positive success attitude towards study and exams, but also aims to equip them with powerful strategies and techniques for learning and remembering. The book offers strategies for learners whose methods of learning are multisensory. When learning is active rather than passive, it happens faster, and is easier, more enjoyable and more effective. As you progress through the fun, engaging activities, so your confidence and belief in your ability to learn will increase. Struggling students will become confident, successful learners, with a positive attitude and access to a wide range of effective strategies, and in this way, you will achieve the results in exams that you have worked for and deserve.

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Montague, Liz

A heartfelt and funny graphic novel memoir by one of the first Black female cartoonists to be published in the New Yorker, at the age of 22.

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Sigafus, Kim

After a school year rife with personal issues, Autumn Dawn is happy summer is finally here. Autumn plans on visiting her aunt Jessie in Minneapolis before heading back home for the class she needs to take in order to pass to the next grade. Life was getting better, even though her father was coming around after leaving his family for a year. On the first day of class, Autumn finds herself face-to-face with Sydney, the bully who thinks it is fun to pick on her. What could be worse? They are paired together and will be tutoring each other! Between dealing with Sydney, trying not to notice the new guy in school (who has definitely noticed her), and coping with her father's anger, Autumn knows something--or someone--has to give.

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Tomp, Sarah

After an injury forces Ria off the diving team, she forms an unexpected friendship with Cotton, a neuro-divergent boy who helps her to see that Coach Benny's training methods were actually abuse. Then Benny returns, offering Ria a second chance with a life-changing diving opportunity. How do you separate the impossible from possible when the one thing you love is so tangled up in the thing you fear most?

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Truett, Heather

Stephen Luckie isn't so lucky in love. He's completely inexperienced when it comes to girls, and wonders if his tics - caused by Tourette's Syndrome - are the reason...Using the scientific method drilled into him by his scientist father, Steven begins the best experiment ever--one that involves kissing as many girls as possible...But when the experiment gets underway, Stephen begins to question how he treats girls - and if his tics have been standing in his way at all.

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.