Illustrated by Mika Song
2 stars
A story about a boy looking for a friend at school who is quiet, shares, listens, and follows the rules.
While it is started in the blurb that Henry is autistic, it does not make mention in the actual story as the author wanted the story to be more universal. However, I think it forces the reader to read between the lines and have to infer quite a bit.
There are times when Henry’s autism feels relevant to how he understands situations. He seemingly gets in trouble because of miscommunications without any real follow-up on what went wrong or how others could be more mindful or empathetic. You get pieces of his thought processes, but the text doesn’t fully connect those pieces.
The illustrations are soothing and calming. While I enjoyed the art style, the text and illustrations didn’t always connect and build off each other.
I did enjoy the ending and how Henry finds a friendship where they both can be themselves around each other and each respects the other’s likes and dislikes.
Okay read. I do appreciate the representation of an autistic child wanting to make friends. Loved the idea, but the execution just wasn’t there for me. While it follows Henry’s perspective, I don’t think we’re given enough of his thoughts to understand and connect with him as a character.