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Teen and young adult titles for Autism Acceptance Week

Mark World Autism Acceptance Week with our recommended titles for teens and young adults, all about autism and embracing your uniqueness.

Celebrate neurodiversity with these featured titles written by neurodivergent authors.

Take a look at our recommended books on autism for children and younger readers.

Ways to be me, by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott

Ten-year-old Tally had high hopes for Year 6. Being in the top class at school means a whole host of privileges, but even better than that is the school production - and Tally is convinced she'll win the lead role. But at home, things aren't going so well. Mum and Dad have been making Tally feel pressured and upset, and Tally wishes things didn't bother her so much - but they do, and sometimes she feels so misunderstood and frustrated, she could explode. Then Tally's mum and dad tell her about something she's never heard about before. Something called autism. And everything changes.

Borrow Ways to be me

Frankie's world, by Aoife Dolley

How do you fit in and stand out when you feel different to everyone around you? 12-year-old Frankie knows she's not like anyone else in her class: she's different, but she can't quite figure out why. Is it the new freckle on her nose, or the fact she's small for her age? Or that she has to go to the hospital sometimes? Everyone else seems to think she's weird too, and they make fun of her at school. Frankie's dad left when she was a baby - maybe he was different too? It would explain why she always feels like an alien. So she and her best-friend Sam, embark on a mission to track him down.

Borrow Frankie's world

The someday birds, by Sally J. Pla and Julie McLaughlin

Charlie’s perfectly ordinary life has been unraveling ever since his war journalist father was injured in Afghanistan.

When his father heads from California to Virginia for medical treatment, Charlie reluctantly travels cross-country with his boy-crazy sister, unruly brothers, and a mysterious new family friend. He decides that if he can spot all the birds that he and his father were hoping to see someday along the way, then everything might just turn out okay.

Borrow The someday birds

The state of Grace, by Rachael Lucas

Fifteen-year-old Grace is funny and plain-spoken. Just because she has Asperger's doesn't mean she's great at maths (she's not) or can draw the Eiffel Tower from memory (she can't). Like any teenager, Grace just wants to fit in, so when it turns out that the cutest boy in school likes her, she finds herself falling in with the cool crowd. But with her dad away and her mum distracted there's no one at home to see Grace's younger sister spiralling out of control, and suddenly everything threatens to fall apart - unless Grace can fix things on her own.

Borrow The state of Grace

Even if we break, by Marieke Nijkamp

For five friends, this was supposed to be one last getaway before going their separate ways - a chance to say goodbye to each other, and to the game they've been playing for the past three years. But they're all dealing with their own demons, and they're all hiding secrets. Finn doesn't trust anyone since he was attacked a few months ago. Popular girl Liva saw it happen and did nothing to stop it. Maddy was in an accident that destroyed her sports career. Carter is drowning under the weight of his family's expectations. Ever wants to keep the game going for as long as they can, at all costs. When the lines between game and reality start to blend with deadly consequences, it's a race against time before it's game over - forever.

Borrow Even if we break

Wild child: a journey through nature, by Dara McAnulty

This gift book, illustrated in full colour by Barry Falls, is divided into five sections: looking out of the window, venturing out into the garden, walking in the woods, investigating heathland and wandering on the river bank. Dara pauses to tell you about each habitat and provides fantastic facts about the native birds, animals, and plants you will find there - including wrens, blackbirds, butterflies, tadpoles, bluebells, bees, hen harriers, otters, dandelions, oak trees and many more.

Borrow Wild child

Like a charm, by Elle McNicoll

Set in Edinburgh, Ramya discovers she can see through magical disguises, and has her eyes opened to an underground world of magical creatures. Armed with her late grandfather's notebooks, she sets out to discover more and comes up against the mysterious and deadly Sirens.

Borrow Like a charm

M is for autism, by Vicky Martin and the students of Limpsfield Grange School

Welcome to M's world. It's tipsy-turvy, sweet and sour, and the beast of anxiety lurks outside classrooms ready to pounce. M just wants to be like other teenagers her age who always know what to say and what to do. So why does it feel like she lives on a different plane of existence to everyone else?

Written by the students of Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder with communication and interaction difficulties, M is for Autism draws on real life experiences to create a heartfelt and humorous novel that captures the highs and lows of being different in a world of normal.

Borrow M is for autism

M in the middle: secret crushes, mega-colossal anxiety and the People's Republic of Autism, by Vicky Martin and the students of Limpsfield Grange School

Life after diagnosis isn't easy for M. Back in her wobbly world, there are lots of changes and ups and downs to get used to, not just for M, but for her friends and family too. Faced with an exciting crush, a pushy friend and an unhelpful headteacher, how long until the beast of anxiety pounces again? Written by Vicky Martin and the students of Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder and communication and interaction difficulties, M's story draws on the real life experiences of teens with autism.

Borrow M in the middle