Good Different

Gr 3-7–Pien, star of television’s As We See It about autistic roommates, who herself is an actor with autism, makes her audiobook debut in neurodivergent poet Kuyatt’s first novel. Pien embodies Kuyatt’s vulnerable verses featuring seventh-grader Selah who, despite being “the only dragon/ in a world built for people,” has navigated thus far with her “Normal-person mask.” Overwhelmed by unwanted touching, the resulting violent outburst makes her a “wild” threat at her once-welcoming school. Meeting others like her, discovering tools and accommodations, offers hope: “My story doesn’t have to be/ Selah vs. Everything.” Kuyatt earnestly reads her own author’s note about being “different.” Recognizing herself in a book with an autistic main character, she reveals, provided “a new perspective...everything started to make sense.”