This book is called The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida and translates by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell. When I was looking in the library for a book, I came across an autobiography written by a thirteen-year-old boy in Japan about what it is like to live with autism. The cover stood out to me because it’s bright blue in the shape of a flower and the top of the book says “One boy’s voice from the silence of autism.” I’ve always wanted to read an autobiography and I thought this would be the perfect time because I’ve also wanted to learn more about autism. This book is nonfiction and written by then thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida’s experiences with autism. This book starts with David Mitchell who is the father of Naoki and the husband of KA Yoshida. Mitchell describes how Naoki wrote the book by spelling out sentences in his native language, Japanese on an alphabet grid. This part made me happy to know that Naoki and Mitchell are able to communicate through the alphabet grid. This book is structured in question format and each page is numbered with a different question about autism. For instance, question number 5, “Why do you do things you’re not supposed to even though you are told a million times?” Also, Naoki explains how he is able to read aloud but sometimes he has difficulty conversing with people because his words disappear. That part was sad to read because it shows that people with autism are just as smart as everyone else but they have a hard time controlling certain behaviors. I thought there was a weakness in plot, but only because there wasn’t a plot since it was an autobiography about Naoki answering questions about his autism and explaining his life. Although it was an autobiography I think the book could’ve used different settings such as school, and what it’s like for him to go out in public. I thought that the end of the book was put together very well because of the short story used to tie Naoki’s life together. This short story is called I’m Right Here. It’s about a boy named Shun who is hit by a car and dies. This short story relates to Naoki’s life because his frustration with autism and communicating with others is how Shun feels about being invisible to his parents and not being able to cure their grief while he’s in heaven. Another strength in the book is that there are many life lessons. For instance, Naoki says how he gets “told off” a lot but can’t explain himself for it. He then challenges us to imagine what it would be like to do inappropriate things and not be able to explain why you’re doing it. I know that this would be hard to deal with and definitely frustrating because as a human we don’t like to be embarrassed and that’s what Naoki deals with everyday. This book was a very easy book to read and is only 135 pages. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about autism because I know that I used to think I knew everything about autism but I didn’t. Some people can be ignorant towards people with this disability but this book opened my eyes toward people like him and appreciate their disability instead of ignoring it. Also, this book taught me to value communication because this is so easy for anyone to take for granted who doesn’t have a problem communicating with others. A quote that influenced this on me is “We get swallowed up by the illusion that unless we can find a place to belong, we are going to be all alone in the world.”
This book is nonfiction and written by then thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida’s experiences with autism. This book starts with David Mitchell who is the father of Naoki and the husband of KA Yoshida. Mitchell describes how Naoki wrote the book by spelling out sentences in his native language, Japanese on an alphabet grid. This part made me happy to know that Naoki and Mitchell are able to communicate through the alphabet grid. This book is structured in question format and each page is numbered with a different question about autism. For instance, question number 5, “Why do you do things you’re not supposed to even though you are told a million times?” Also, Naoki explains how he is able to read aloud but sometimes he has difficulty conversing with people because his words disappear. That part was sad to read because it shows that people with autism are just as smart as everyone else but they have a hard time controlling certain behaviors.
I thought there was a weakness in plot, but only because there wasn’t a plot since it was an autobiography about Naoki answering questions about his autism and explaining his life. Although it was an autobiography I think the book could’ve used different settings such as school, and what it’s like for him to go out in public.
I thought that the end of the book was put together very well because of the short story used to tie Naoki’s life together. This short story is called I’m Right Here. It’s about a boy named Shun who is hit by a car and dies. This short story relates to Naoki’s life because his frustration with autism and communicating with others is how Shun feels about being invisible to his parents and not being able to cure their grief while he’s in heaven. Another strength in the book is that there are many life lessons. For instance, Naoki says how he gets “told off” a lot but can’t explain himself for it. He then challenges us to imagine what it would be like to do inappropriate things and not be able to explain why you’re doing it. I know that this would be hard to deal with and definitely frustrating because as a human we don’t like to be embarrassed and that’s what Naoki deals with everyday.
This book was a very easy book to read and is only 135 pages. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about autism because I know that I used to think I knew everything about autism but I didn’t. Some people can be ignorant towards people with this disability but this book opened my eyes toward people like him and appreciate their disability instead of ignoring it. Also, this book taught me to value communication because this is so easy for anyone to take for granted who doesn’t have a problem communicating with others. A quote that influenced this on me is “We get swallowed up by the illusion that unless we can find a place to belong, we are going to be all alone in the world.”