Reading Level: Early Elementary, Mid-late Elementary

Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

I really liked how this honest, heartfelt story helped me imagine some of the experiences of a young person on the autism spectrum. Bixby Alexander Tam (BAT for short) is an animal lover whose mom is a vet. He falls in love with a kit skunk she rescued, and he learns to advocate for himself and his skunk. Meanwhile, Mom teaches BAT socially appropriate behaviors such as saying excuse me, and thank you, and to look in people’s eyes. 

Potential concerns:

  • Sibling Squabbles. Unfortunately, at one point BAT’s sister calls him “weird.” It is in the context of sibling disagreements, but still could hurt.  His older sister understandably gets frustrated with her brother and rolls her eyes. The story feels raw and honest.
  • Autism Struggles. To name a few, BAT struggles with loud noises, group work, and letting go of ideas he wants to focus on.
  • BAT tries to braid his sister’s wet hair. He likes the soft feeling. At another point he looks at his friend’s hands and notices they are trustworthy. I didn’t sense any agendas here, but BAT is attentive to a lot of senses.
  • Divorce. The parents are divorced, so if your family has a fresh break then this might be tough (or it might be healing). His parents’ divorce adds to his challenges; BAT doesn’t like how every-other-weekend with Dad disrupts his routines. Nevertheless, he learns some patience.
  • Reference to Greek Mythology (Thor). There is brief discussion of learning mythology; the kids name the skunk Thor, God of Thunder, because they want him to grow strong.

I’d want to have a quick conversation with my kiddo about the Thor thing—just to talk about myths—and also about autism, appropriate responses to people on the spectrum (e.g., we don’t call them names even if their behavior seems odd to us), and friendship (don’t take it personally if they need alone time or if they yell, etc.). I still think this book is a gem and a learning opportunity and I would put it on my bookshelf despite this need for a bit of parent support.

See also my review of BAT and the End of Everything, which is Book 3 in the series.