Publication date: May 2003

Genre: Fiction

Approximate interest level:
9-12th grades 

Approximate text level:
Z+ (Guided Reading) 
1180L (Lexile)

Brief teaser: Though extremely intelligent and having the ability to list incredible knowledge, Christopher struggles to connect emotionally. This book is a wonderful representation and depiction of an individual with Autism. It brings to how a boy named Chris lives with his disability. 

Teaching Idea:
Lesson Plan Idea
For this book it would be easy to do many lessons because of the length. My personal favorites included doing a character map and having a discussion about the main character, Christopher. The character map can show the people in Christopher's life and how his disability affects the people in his life and how they react to his disability. The discussion could be about previous knowledge of Autism and what they learned from the book. The discussion could be facilitated in many different ways.

Illustrator: Haden and Allison Duncan 

Publication date:May 22, 2013 

Genre: Non-Fiction 

Approximate interest level:
Lower Elementary 

Approximate text level: C

Brief teaser: This simple children's book is a great way to help children understand one another. Lilly writes how schedules and reminders make her feel safe and how she feels when things do not go as planned. 

Teaching Idea: 
Students could make their own book pages (2-3 pages total) like Lilly's life about their own life. For example, if the student's name was Peter, it would be entitled "Peter's Life." They could each share about their own lives and the things they may need extra help in and the things they are good at. This could help promote diversity and understanding. 

Illustrator: Claire Keay

Publication date: 2014

Genre: Fiction

Approximate interest level: Preschool - 2nd Grade

Approximate text level: E

Brief teaser: This children's book is very informative illustrated book that is great for young children to learn more about Autism. It is a great way to help young children to be more accepting and open at a young age. 

Teaching Idea:
For each page of the book, a group of 2 or 3 students can pair up and make a poster for the page. This can promote awareness of Autism and give students a better understanding. The students can present their posters and "teach" the rest of the class. This lesson would work best with first and second grade students.

Illustrator: Jennifer Veenendall

Publication date: 2009 

Genre: Fiction 

Approximate interest level:
Lower Elementary 

Approximate text level: E

Brief teaser: Izzy is a student in first grade who has been diagnosed with Autism and shows many signs of sensory overload with too much noise or a lot going on. This book helps students to understand senses and general sensory issues to better understand their peers. 

Teaching Idea:
A teacher could set up different stations to explain the senses and the sensory problems. This could help students better understand why other students may be more sensitive to sounds, tastes, lights, etc. A video could also be shown as a simulation.

Publication date: 1997

Genre: How-to

Approximate interest level: Junior High and Early High School

Approximate text level: U

Brief teaser: This book goes through basic manners and behaviors for students who may struggle with social topics that are easier for some to understand. The book itself is great for a student with Autism or any other disability that makes social interaction hard as well as has the potential of teaching others that the things that they may think are common sense may be harder for some of their peers to understand. 

Teaching Idea: 

A very interactive and meaningful experiment would be used with this book. Many psychology classes do an experiment with society and doing something that is socially unexceptable to see others' reactions. This would be great to pair with this book and report their findings back to the whole class in the form of a casual class discussion. 

Illustrator: Unknown

Publication date: 2006

Genre: Juvenile Non-Fiction 

Approximate interest level: Kindergarten 

Approximate text level: c

Brief teaser: This book teaches children the importance of acceptance of everyone. It does not focus on only Autism and includes great encouragement for students to understand differences and to not bully or tease because of them. 

Teaching Idea: 

There are so many ways that this lesson could be taught, however, with this age group it can be difficult. While researching, I found a simple and fun activity that could engage this young of an age group.

Playdough Diversity Lesson
This lesson includes making playdough and then adding food coloring in front of the students to show we are all the same on the inside. This is great for a Kindergarten level so that it is interesting and engaging. 

A seventh grade student is expected to draw final conclusions in their writing. After watching this video and facilitating a short class discussion, the students will be expected to write a response about disability awareness or what they learned specifically about Autism. They must present a clear understanding and conclusion, to align with common core state standards in writing.  

Illustrator: N/A

Publication date:

Genre: Autobiography 

Approximate interest level: High School 

Approximate text level: 1120L 

Brief teaser: This book is an autobiography of the life of a woman that has been diagnosed with Autism. She talks about how she overcame her circumstances and the people in her life that helped and the people that had a negative effect. 

Teaching Idea: 
The students will do research on Temple Grandin at difference times in her life. They will work in different groups and be assigned an age to research what Temple Grandin was doing in her life. They will present it to the rest of the class to create a story all about Grandin's life.

Illustrator: N/A

Publication date: 2005 

Genre: Non-fiction 

Approximate interest level: High School 

Brief teaser:
This book is written by an established "autism author" who is a mom of a child on the spectrum. She discusses her personal experiences as a mom and professional being around people with autism and discusses the ten things she feels are important for everyone to know. 

Teaching idea: 
A great way to end this book would to be to take a trip to an elementary school and help in a special education classroom that could hopefully be mostly based with students with autism. This would be an amazing experience for everyone involved and would just be really cool to use the things read to have more of an understanding and acceptance for people with a disability.

Illustrator: N/A

Publication date: March 7, 2017 

Genre: Non-fiction 

Approximate interest level: High School 

Brief teaser:
This book is a psychological look on Autism as well as many other disabilities. It talks about the way one's struggle can become a positive aspect in their life, making them who they are. 

Teaching Idea: 
The student must choose one disability or mental health illness discussed in the book and create a powerpoint presentation on it. They must include a definition, example (story of a person they know or have researched), and discuss how the disability may affect a person's life, both good and bad. They can include why they chose they chose it and a more personal story if they have the want.

Illustrator: N/A

Publication date: July 5, 2013 

Genre: Non-fiction 

Approximate interest level: High School 

Brief teaser:
This book is a more personal account of a person that has Autism. She includes a lot of her religious and spiritual experiences, making it unique from most books about disabilities. 

Teaching Idea: 
The students will be required to write a short paper on the comparison between this book and a book they have been previously required to read in class. This class will have previously had focus on other disabilities and acceptance of diverse communities and people unlike themselves. Therefore, they will have prior knowledge and the ability to have a comparison that could promote discussion and awareness.