Everyday Hero

Gr 5–8—Thirteen-year-old Alice is attending a new middle school where her teachers and classmates are not aware of her Asperger's diagnosis. She is living with her father while her mother has stayed behind in Vancouver to help her aging parents. Alice doesn't like noises, smells, or strangers, and she follows rules very closely. She has a very detailed memory and often recites dictionary definitions to figure out the meaning of a word. When she meets Megan in detention, they slowly becomes friends because Megan doesn't smell, isn't noisy, and she "doesn't do things for gold stars." When Megan decides to run away, Alice breaks the rules to help save her friend from an online predator and her abusive stepfather. The author does a good job of presenting daily life from the perspective of a young person with Asperger's—Alice relies on previous experiences and rules when faced with new situations, and both her parents and Megan help her deal with challenges of sensory overstimulation and verbal communication.