Kiara has Asperger's syndrome, and it's hard for her to make friends. So whenever her world doesn't make sense -- which is often -- she relies on Mr. Internet for answers. But there are some questions he can't answer, like why she always gets into trouble, and how do kids with Asperger's syndrome make friends?
Kiara has a difficult time with other kids. They taunt her and she fights back. Now she's been kicked out of school. She wishes she could be like her hero Rogue -- a misunderstood X-Men mutant who used to hurt anyone she touched until she learned how to control her special power.
When Chad moves in across the street, Kiara hopes that, for once, she'll be able to make friendship stick. When she learns that Chad's parents are using his home to manufacture meth and he suffers abuse at their hands, she's so determined to keep Chad as a friend that she agrees not to tell. But being a true friend is more complicated than Mr. Internet could ever explain, and it might be just the thing that leads Kiara to find her own special power.
"This raw and edgy tale will leave readers almost as scarred as the boy who shares center stage with its narrator, a girl with Asperger’s. Kiara’s tendency to viciously lash out when she is angry or frustrated has finally gotten her kicked out of eighth grade. She finds companionship, of a sort, in a sweet, scruffy, young new neighbor and his fiercely protective big brother, Chad, who is as prickly and secretive as they come....Kiara’s talent with a video camera gives her a measure of pride to place against a self-image hammered by twin convictions that she has been abandoned by her mother, and is a genetic mistake caused by her dad’s chemo....A harrowing read." -- John Peters, Booklist
Recommended Age | 13 and up |
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Author | Lyn Miller-Lachmann |
ISBN | 0399162259 |
Publication Date | May 16, 2013 |
Publisher | Nancy Paulsen Books |
Language | English |