One of the things I love the most about graphic novels is that they can make such complex subjects feel so approachable. This is especially true when sharing perspectives with the world and helping people understand what others experience.

Enter Sensory: Life on the Spectrum. This graphic novel is a collection of short stories and comics. The intent is to cover a wide range of autistic experiences; thus, the team behind it can all speak from experience.

From what I understand, Sensory was originally a series of webcomics. Each week brought a release of a new comic focused on autistic experiences, allowing artists and creatives a chance to share their perspectives with the world. I love that it's not an entire graphic novel, and I hope this will help reach even more readers!

This graphic novel is an essential read. Let me state that because it bears repeating: Sensory is an essential read. Neurodivergence isn't a taboo word. It isn't something to be ashamed of. It's merely a way of describing how your brain may work differently from others.

I adored the variety of stories included in this collection. Readers can see everything from diagnoses to daily life snippets and everything in between. What struck me the most (other than the tales explaining coping mechanisms and other vital details) were the comics explaining the differences between professionally and self-diagnosed patients. Once again, I feel like this is an important thing to learn and a critical conversation to have. So please, take the time to read Sensory; it's worth it!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. This book was so lovely and necessary.
I'm so happy to see more Own Stories, specifically from the neurodivergent and disabled community, coming out.
Great introduction about the lived experiences of autistic folks and beautiful art to go with.
Definitely going to pick up a physical copy of this, because it'll be a great resource to lend out. For the most part it's empowering and uplifting stories that I'm sure feels really affirming for some people.

I am so glad that this book exists. As a child psychologist it is so important to me to hear the voices of these people who have autism. Their words are poignant, funny, biting, sad, and revealing. I believe that every psychologist who works with this population should read this book and really sit with their words, feelings, and experiences. I feel that presenting their views as comics was an excellent choice. We express so much of who we are through art, and many of the pieces have art that speaks for itself. I encourage anyone that works with, or even is acquainted with, someone autistic/with autism (wording preference theirs) to read this book.

Rebecca has put together a superb, if somewhat unwieldy, anthology. Most of the stories here are deeply personal accounts of how autistic people navigate the world,

With so many contributors, the quality is uneven; that said, there is some great stuff in the book that more than makes up for weaker sections. One of the main things that come across is how much energy some people have to use to navigate the world on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately the anthology is a call for compassion.

Very highly recommended.

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum is a beautiful and artistic collection of comics created by multiple autistic artists. Each artist uses their own voice and art medium to share their vision and experience with autism. It is a very personal and emotional journey when reading their stories. Each artist has their own style and palette, when you combine them you create a diverse view and feel of the spectrum. It teaches people from personal and real experiences, so I recommend this book to everyone.

The collection does what it intended to do; it showcases autistic artists experiences living on the spectrum. The art styles vary, and the themes jump back and forth. The comics range from personal life moments to infographics on ASD. There were a few art styles I could not get behind visually and others I really enjoyed. Overall, it is a great representation of such a vast spectrum, this collection is definitely needed for the community. I look forward to seeing more from the artists.

So many artists, and each with a different lived experience. This book celebrates Autistic joy, as well as seeking and providing solace for struggles.

Since the book has so many artists, the art quality is likewise variable, though most of it is quite good. And even when the art isn't great, the message told by the artist is still valuable. And I'm not just saying that in an "everyone should have a voice" sense, because some of the most hard-hitting pieces are the more artistically rudimentary.

I was a particular fan of the pieces on the joys of stimming. The color work was phenomenal, and helped communicate the feeling in a way akin to synesthesia.

A great pick for those who need to understand others better, or for those who want to be reminded that they are far from alone.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

This is a fantastically varied graphic nonfiction title about living with autism by autistic people. The art styles, life experiences, and personalities of the creators give a faceted perspective and all the art and writing is wonderful. Highly recommended and I'm buying multiple copies for our library system. Note that I have lived with and been close to many autistic people and am 'mildly' autistic myself.

As a likely autistic person, this anthology really excited me. I have come across very few books or graphic novels like this and I hope that more will be released eventually. Haveing an anthology where the strokes and illustrations are created by people with autism is great! I really enjoyed the representation and diversity this anthology had!

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

As a person who is possibly on the spectrum as well, it was great to see myself represented in a lot of these. And otherwise, it was great to learn more about sensory issues, both to me as a person but also as a teacher!

Also: I LOVED all the unique artstyles in this, and how it showed so many individual experiences from people!

Would definitely recommend checking this out!

This anthology is an interesting look at a variety of comics written by, and often for, autistic people. I thought it was great to hear a mix of experiences; particularly interesting to me was the female autistic voice that is not so often heard. It’s hard to critique when it’s people telling their personal stories, but just in terms of reading experience it was at times repetitive. I also think there was a vastly different standard of illustration that could maybe have been moderated slightly more, and also there was no break between different comics so at times I was like “oh we’re on the next one” as they all flowed into one another. Overall, I enjoyed this. 3 stars, would recommend, but not a favourite.

With thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this anthology.

My review will be spoiler-free and 100% honest.

First and foremost, thank you to Andrew McMeel Publishing for providing me with a free copy for review, to the wonderful autistic artists who stepped up to inform/express to allistic (non-autistic) individuals/those questioning, and to Rebecca Ollerton for organizing this lovely anthology!

"Sensory: Life on the Spectrum" is a wonderful, colorful short anthology of over 30 different autistic creators' comics on what life being autistic entails for each of them, as well as to inform the general reader. There is day-to-day life advice, information for those questioning/allistics, and an exposure to several different life styles under one umbrella that most people can't begin to imagine. Autistic or not, you learn a lot and are strapped in for one heck of a ride!

This book is friendly for those who are not big on reading despite having a lot to read, as it is very colorful and interesting. You never stay in just one story for too long, and all stories are so pretty you're pleased to be looking at them past reading them.

Furthermore, as someone studying psychology, I learned a lot with this book: anyone can read *about* autistic people, but to read from them and witness their stories is beautiful and crucial to developing more fully as a writer, reader, and human being!

Some things that I was made more aware of and will carry into my future psych career with me from this book:

- Double standards within sexism, racism, and perceived autism

- Reassurance to autistic readers

- Information on certain outdated terms (such as Asperger's Syndrome)

- Incredible art representing the very unique feelings of these autistic artists

- Incredible stories by incredible people

- Much more!

With this book we can better treat and understand ourselves and others, because we really, truly deserve it.

This was a great book for students with Autism and their families. I enjoyed the visuals as well as the storyline in general.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Sensory: Life on the Spectrum is a collection of autistic creators telling their own stories, in there own way. I'm hoping the print version will have a more distinct division between each story, which is my one negative take away.

I wasn't sure what the expect with this one exactly but I ended up really loving it. There are so many things here that I love--the range of styles, the range of perspectives, and the range of topics discussed. Even in short comics, this anthology goes deep and gives the resounding message: listen to autistic advocates. This was a wonderful and quick read--I recommend it!

SENSORY: LIFE ON THE SPECTRUM is an anthology of comics featuring the diverse, varied experiences of autistic creatives. SENSORY collects works from 30 different autistic contributors and explores topics like life before diagnosis, self-diagnosis, soothing, and explaining autism. The variety of art and writing styles will appeal to readers wanting a fast-paced read and those wanting to take their time with each comic. This graphic nonfiction is an excellent, enjoyable tool for anyone - autistic or not - who wants to learn more about life on the spectrum.

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum is a wonderful collection of stories about what is like to have autism. I'm glad this type of book is available and it just shows how much representation matters (#OwnVoices). I enjoyed perusing through this and I learned a few things about how exhausting it could be and how different each person's experience is. Overall, I highly recommend this to everyone and I wish to see this book in every library!

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book. This is a wonderful, well-drawn anthology of many autistic artists describing their perspectives and experience living with ASD. It is a very informative read and a great resource to learn more about the diagnosis and other Neurodivergent conditions. Highly recommend it to anyone in the education field as well as to anyone who would like to learn more about Neurodivergent population.

This was really good. For an anthology comic book with many many different art styles I enjoyed most of the stories and could handle the change in art the majority of the time.

You might be thinking, Paris... If you don't like comic anthologies why did you read this? And my answer is, because it's incredibly important to see multiple perspectives on the ASD experiences and as a recently diagnosed young adult, it's this type of stuff that I find hard to access.

I wish the comic had done other sections about stimming and food related thoughts but I still really enjoyed the stories that were included.

Set of short graphic novels by autistic authors. We can read about various themes that help us understand autism and that every autistic person is different. So there is no better or worse autism.

All the graphics and styles were not to my liking, but there are a lot of authors. Some illustrations are excellent and go well with the subject they present. Overall, great selection on a particular topic.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review, and all opinions are my own.