I thought this was a powerful and educational book. I know very little about autism and this book opens up what it means to live with autism. It is a very rich book of 160 pages of comics by over 30 different autistic graphic artists. Each artist tells a short story through prose and pictures about living with autism. The reader enters into a different world through these stories and each story has its own style of artwork and words, and so the entire book is so richly diverse.

Many of these stories expose the frustration of living with autism and how the frustration emerges because of difference. It shows how difficult it can be to live in a world that doesn’t always accept you or acknowledge that you are different. In some ways this book tells familiar stories because being different in other ways can meet with resistance and make life like an obstacle course. Race, gender, sexuality, disability and so on are all well known characteristics that can lead to exclusion and barriers but what this book does is to amplify the voices of those who experience this obstacle course because of their autism and it shows how these artists are living and responding. It isn’t a book that cries out for sympathy, it is a book that speaks of courage, grace, determination and community.

There were also aspects that are familiar because so many of us actually struggle to live in our chaotic, noisy and demanding world, if we are honest. We live under the burdens of societal and cultural expectations that can sometimes diminish or oppress us even when we don’t have autism. I was intrigued by the whole concept of masking that people living with autism sometimes do to manage life, and the pressure to conform to expected behaviour, especially socially or in work place settings. It made me think about my own masking and having to adapt to situations. It isn’t the same as being autistic but it enabled me to think about autism.

I enjoy graphic novels and so I really enjoyed the different styles of artwork in this book. It is the kind of book that you can read over and over again and not become bored with the art.I am really happy I read this and so glad the different artists decided to share their lives in this way. I read the electronic advanced copy but I need to buy a physical copy of my own so that I can really experience the book more fully and actually flip between the pages.

This is definitely one to hold on to. I hope there will be future volumes exploring other dimensions of life with autism.

Copy provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to the publishers for doing so.

graphic novel anthologies are pretty hit or miss for me because i find it pretty jarring to go through different art styles for each story. this was even more jarring in sensory because many of the comics are only 2-3 pages long. most of the art wasn't impressive to me and it felt self-published. it didn't feel like the comics were put together in any kind of thoughtful order and most of them followed the same format of "my autism made me feel like x which was because of a, b, and c but now that i know about my autism i can do y and now it makes me feel like z" and it just got repetitive and lost my attention.

i needed more variety in storytelling and in the order of the stories. some stories explaining concepts like masking and stimming don't explain these things and later sections may go more in-depth. i knew what these concepts were so it wasn't confusing for me but could be if someone's coming in with very little background knowledge. the cover of this one is beautiful but it feels like most of the art inside was low-effort and there wasn't better dialogue to balance out the oversimplified art.

I loved this! The illustrations and colors are so pleasing to look at and all of the collaborators in this anthology comics are on the spectrum. We get to see their lived experiences as autistic people alongside their inner thoughts presented to us using different art styles, colors, palettes, and patterns. I am so glad to discover new people to follow since I loved all of their works here. This is a very engaging and fun book to read and I highly recommend!

As a disclaimer: I do not identify as an autistic person, however, my 13-year-old daughter is nonverbal autistic and as her sole caretaker, I find myself with a pretty good (if never complete) understanding of her particular autism norms.

This collection of mostly nonfiction graphic stories either seeks to educate the public about autism or to self-reflect on personal journeys as autistic people. I truly enjoyed a lot of these stories, mostly for the educational content but also there were a few that really got me on an emotional level. "Greater Understanding" really got me, considering the hard journey that a trans autistic person must go through. I also thought "Halfway" was amazing in it's righteous anger and it got me with that last panel.

I didn't critique the art in many of the stories since the art wasn't really the focus, but I do want to point out two absolute standouts for me in that department "Fly" and "Overwhelm" were both stories that had very little in terms of text and focused a lot on the art to give emotions and they both succeeded.

There were a couple (maybe 2 in over 50 stories) that struck me as not inclusive to all types of autistics. [Again, I'm coming from the perspective of nonverbal with some developmental disabilities] mostly the one that talked about autistic jobs -- and not because it talked about jobs, which is a great topic to broach, but because it kept saying that your ability to adapt to the world will improve with time... when for some that is not the case. But this is a nitpick.

I highly recommend this short story collection, especially if you are uninformed about autism or have an autistic person in your life you'd like to understand a little better (the best way is to talk too them, or spend time with them, though)

This was an incredible anthology by various artists provided so much insight and understanding. I recommend it for pretty much everyone. The stories were unique and beautiful.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This comic anthology was so eye-opening, I would be recommending it to austitic kids and teens and parents as well. It would be a great addition to any library, especially a school one.

This anthology is an incredible collection of mini comics by 40 autistic creators. I loved the different art styles, each comic is very personal to the creator and their passion really shines through. The anthology includes a variety of stories of past experiences, advice on getting diagnosed as well as suggested coping strategies. It's very informative and educational, particularly as it includes different viewpoints from a cast of brilliant creators. I can not recommend this highly enough.

This was exactly what I was hoping it would be, such a great, uplifting anthology! There's mini comics from 40 autistic creators, and I really loved most of them - some of them I even recognized from seeing them online at some point.

I'm definitely picking up a physical copy of this, because it'll be a great resource to revisit regularly. There's lots of empowering and uplifting stuff, and also even coping strategies.

i. loved. this. book.
This book is an amalgamation of short comics all made by autistic individuals. The stories are all short and sweet easy reads, and yet they touch on such important and crucial parts of the lives of autistic people!!
From tips and tricks to handling life, to beautiful illustrations depicting sensory overload, this book has it all.
As an autistic adult who’s currently self diagnosed in adulthood, this book felt so good to read. Lifting up the voices of autistic adults is so important in a world that constantly tries to silence us!!

I would recommend this book to any autistic teen, young adult, adult, etc. It’s important to feel heard and a sense of belonging in the world.
Parents of autistic children, consider buying them this book! It has so many stories of self validation, finding your way in the world, and a healthy amount of struggling, all while it continues to uplift the reader. These things are so important to autistic people, especially preteens who may be starting school, as they’re likely not to fit in.
I expect this book to go far, and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone who I feel will enjoy this as much as I did.

This comic anthology written by autistic people for autistic people is wonderful. Truly a joy to read all the different voices and experiences.

I went into this read wanting to know more and understand more about autism and that is exactly what happened. You get 40 different experiences and learn what it can be like for different people. It was informative while also heart touching. I enjoyed the information, the stories, the art, and the truth about autism. I definitely learned a lot and hope there will be more books like this in the future and more people will come to understand autism. Thank you all for sharing your stories.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is a graphic novel anthology by 40 autistic creators about, as the title states, life on the spectrum. It is beautifully illustrated and written throughout, and all of the short stories have a unique voice/style to them.

I found this anthology to be wonderfully done. While I am not an autistic person myself, I thought this was informative, interesting, and had so, so much heart. The characters were immensely likeable and their stories and experiences were clearly so real and honest.

I also loved how the creators of this anthology added resources at the end, and reminded readers that the experiences of each neurodivergent individual are different. This graphic novel did a wonderful job of breaking down harmful stereotypes and misinformation (like the outdated person first language, and terms like "high-functioning" and "low-functioning"), while also celebrating autistic joy, and the importance of supportive/understanding communities, resources, and representation.

Overall, I think this is beyond worth a read, and I can definitely see myself rereading and recommending this to others in the future!

I loved this book and am so thankful to be able to review it! I am a Speech-Language Pathologist at an elementary school where we have many students with autism, and many with accompanying neurological diversity. I am always looking for ways to get autistic voices into my classrooms and practice, and this book is a creative, insightful look at many voices of autism! I enjoyed how each contributor had their own distinct style and priorities, which reflects my students’ differences and priorities. I will be recommending that my school buy several copies and will personally be buying, gifting, and recommending this book.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this intriguing multi stories online comic. It really is interesting to hear everyone’s experience and how they go through day to day life as someone on the spectrum. I found it mindblown that “Aspergers “ was named after a Nazi psychologist like woah dude, that’s crazy! The comic artists really illustrated their stories well, they all had their own art styles which is quite unique! It was nice to understand what everyone went through with involving positive vibes. I’m surprised also that our next door neighbour English had 22% of employees on the spectrum which yeah it’s pretty small like I feel that society really needs to be pushed harder into employing people on the spectrum. It’s just so disgraceful how some workplaces are still backwards with putting talented people with ASD in the corner!

You guys should take a read at this book like you can learn a thing or two with ASD!

I really liked this comic. It lays out for both people with autism and people who want to understand it, just how it is. And it in such a cool medium that it will work for people of all ages. Especially people who don’t have an interest in reading a book persay. This is amazing.

I loved this anthology! I was diagnosed with ADHD late and the emotions of grieving and anger that followed was intense. I was so mad thinking about how much easier things could’ve been if I knew sooner or someone noticed. Those feelings I had were explained in this graphic novel so well and reading about how many other people deal with sensory and burnout issues made me feel less alone. It’s a quick read and the different artistic styles keep it engaging, but I also think it’s a very important read ESPECIALLY if you or a loved one is on the spectrum.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I usually like to break down my graphic novel reviews into character, plot, and art, but because this is an anthology each section has its own voice and art style.

This graphic novel shares the experiences and advice of over 40 autistic artists. I loved that each chapter had its own personality and that although there were somethings that everyone agreed on, it shows that having the same diagnosis doesn't mean that your experiences are all the same. It also challenged those who are not autistic to consider how their preconceived ideas can be very harmful to the community. I believe this should be a must read for everyone, but for teachers in particular.

My only critique is that I wish the artists' names were near their contribution (some were, but there was mostly just a table of contents in the front and a list of all of their socials in the back)

I give this graphic novel a 5. I believe that it is so important to center own voice books and this graphic novel is great because it shares so many different perspectives on the same topic.

I'm still a little bit unsure of my final thoughts about this. I was hoping to get a lot more out of it than I did, but reading it gave me answers as to why that is too.

This is a collection of short comics made by autistic artisits and about various parts of being autistic.

The biggest thing I struggled with was not having the depth of a novel or full length graphic novel to fully relate to these comics. The topics covered were amazing and going in with expectations to see myself seen in more of them than I did hindered my reading experience. However, it's a me thing! These stories are so important and great and I know many others will see themselves here.

I also believe having a title page for each comic would greatly enhance the reading experience, since many autistic & neurodivergent people struggle with switching topics/things. I found myself wondering sometimes if a comic had switched or not because the art was similar but looked slightly different. And with some of them, I didn't know what the main topic was without refering back to the contents page where all the titles are listed. It would just read more smoothly and assist in switching gears to have the consistency of title pages for each comic.

Overall, I noticed that with such short comics, and various different art styles, I couldn't get out of this what I had hoped for. But I super appreciate the time and effort it took for all of the artists to create this and I'll definitely recommend it for those who do well with short stories/comics.

This was a quick and fun read! Really relatable as well considering I'm autistic myself!
Don't have the energy to write a longer review right now, but yeah I really liked this!

I feel like this collection of stories would be better off if each story was slightly longer. Normally, in a short story collection it would be okay if the stories were 1-6 pages long, but in a graphic collection of short stories you only get so much space to tell your story or give your tips or whatever you choose to do with the space.
Another critique is that the constant changing of the font, art style and colour was jarring, Some fonts were harder to read than others or were in a small size so I'd have to zoom into the picture to see what was being said. A lot of the stories repeated the exact same thing (see all the stories about masking), and i don't necessarily mean they discussed the same topic but that they discussed it in the exact same way. I get that these stories were collected from some challenge or hashtag but at the end of the day you need to be able to cut a story if it talks about the same thing as another story from earlier but with new art. This issue led to me needing to skip some of the stories entirely if it was starting to say things that I had already read multiple times in this collection alone.
I was excited to see what this story had to offer but unfortunately I didn't like it. Maybe it's just because I'm reading it from the perspective of someone who has not been diagnosed as autistic because it seems the other advance readers who have rated this seem to have really enjoyed it.
I didn't enjoy it but I'm going to leave a decent rating because others are enjoying this and I don't want to tank the ratings for this if the authors are genuinely helping other people and providing relatable media for consumption.