Gina loves to draw, and she has an autistic younger brother, Rob, who has an intellectual disability. She’s stressed about the normal things, like making new friends and starting her period. She’s rarely bothered by a life that revolves around her brother’s safety, with a strict routine and locks on doors and cupboards. As Gina tells her new friend Callie, Rob repeats sounds—echolalia—but only rarely says words to intentionally convey meaning. Rob communicates with his family using idiosyncratic personal sign language. The Chaddertons are a loving household, but Rob’s occasional violent outbursts are nonetheless frightening. Callie, who has light-brown skin, is a wonderful, giving friend who’s great with Rob. This lightly fictionalized memoir is Gina’s story, not her brother’s—she describes her goal as sharing her “experience of being a sibling of someone with high support needs.” Because Rob is minimally speaking, he doesn’t have his own voice in the story, though Gina represents him empathically. The simple, cartoon-style illustrations in a vibrant color palette quietly pay artistic tribute to some classics of comic style. The author’s note, which includes family photos, mentions the author’s adult diagnosis of autism, demonstrating her insider’s view of the subject.
