Name: Anything But Typical
Rating: 2.0 (5 reviews)
Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin

About this book

Summary

Book Summary

Jason Blake is an autistic 12-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does.

Jason can be himself when he writes and he thinks that PhoneixBird - her name is Rebecca - could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to met her, he's terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca will only see his autism and not who Jason really is.

By acclaimed writer Nora Raleigh Baskin, this is the breathtaking depiction of an autistic boy's struggles - and a story for anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.

Membership Advantages

Reviews
"Beyond the Book" articles
Free books to read and review (US only)
Find books by time period, setting & theme
Read-alike suggestions by book and author
Book club discussions
and much more!
Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
More about membership!

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Baskin's delineation of an autistic boy's world is brilliant, putting readers into Jason's mind, showing how he sees the world, understands how his parents feel about him, frets about fitting in and yearns to find at least one friend in the world. Ages 10-14." - Kirkus Reviews.

" Jason is a believable and empathetic character in spite of his idiosyncrasies. Baskin also does a superb job of developing his parents and younger brother as real people with real problems, bravely traversing their lives with a differently abled child without a road map, but with a great deal of love." - School Library Journal

"Starred Review. This is an enormously difficult subject, but Baskin, without dramatics or sentimentality, makes it universal. As Jason explains, there’s really only one kind of plot: “Stuff happens. That’s it.” Grades 4-7." - Booklist

This information about Anything But Typical was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own review

ashbashyo12

The Best Book
I think this book was really good. I don't think that it was just about "how an autistic boy struggles". I think that it explains so many things about life that ordinary people wouldn't realize, thus the reason he is autistic. I think that a lot of people really need to read this book because it really allows people to understand how easy their life is compared to others.

meow

okay book
The ending didn't satisfy me at all. It was like he has no goal in the book, and even if the convention can be perceived as one, nothing really happens.
However, other than that, it really makes me realize that maybe "special" people are just people who express what every human being is feeling in a different, perhaps more open, way. It also gave me some great ideas for writing, when I was running out of inspiration. Jason truly knows how to write, just not endings. Just like the author.

Bookworm

My opinion is...
I think the book was kinda boring. I do feel bad about that he has autism. But that's my opinion probably some people like the book. Honestly I didn't like it. It's so long and well doesn't catch my attention.

book master13

awful
This book was not appealing to me. it was just another story of how an autistic boy struggles. I'm not saying that it is not important to know the struggles of this boy, but I think the book was just boring and she could have expressed it in a better way. This story followed everything every other book in this world closely except the good ones. It just follows boy gets girl boy loses girl and boy gets girl back. That is my opinion.

Greek Wizard

HORRID
I really did not like this book. It was just another book about an autistic kid who has an (some may call) "amazing" story. I am not one of them. This book is nothing compared to other books like the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Now those are impressive. This did not deserve even a "very poor" It was an outrage to literature everywhere.I would not have pick up this book if it wasn't a required reading book. Some books are out of this world. Others not so much.

This counts as an other.

Membership Advantages

Reviews
"Beyond the Book" articles
Free books to read and review (US only)
Find books by time period, setting & theme
Read-alike suggestions by book and author
Book club discussions
and much more!
Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
More about membership!

Author Information

Biography
Books by this Author

Nora Raleigh Baskin Author Biography

LIsa Bevis

Nora Raleigh Baskin was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for her novel What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows. She is the author of novels for middle-graders and teens, including The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah and Anything But Typical, which won the ALA Schneider Family Award. Nora lives with her family in Weston, Connecticut.

Link to Nora Raleigh Baskin's Website

Name Pronunciation
Nora Raleigh Baskin: rah-ley (like the explorer) bas-kin (like the icecream company)