Wow... this book was a rewarding read, but also a sad one. Nova shone as the principle character, as her behaviors and thoughts and deep love of space and her sister made her feel like a real girl. Her emotions and frustrations and worries were easy to empathize with and understand, and I can imagine young readers of this title will feel the same. 

It's so important that this story highlighted how small differences in how Francine, Billy and Joanie treat Nova, like speaking to her with the same cadence they would to anyone else, are meaningful signs of respect. Though many years have passed since 1986, there are people who still talk to tweens, teens and even adults with speech difficulties as if they're infantile, or make little effort to communicate with them at all. Throughout this book, readers are taught and reminded that ableism is often the heaviest weight on people with disabilities. Nova has a rich imagination and passionate knowledge of space to uplift her, along with the love of her sister, but the low expectations of her social worker and teachers restrict her learning and expression. Her story thankfully does not revolve around her having to "overcome" her autism and apraxia of speech. Rather, what she must overcome is the ableism of those who are meant to guide her and teach her, and she is never tasked with doing this alone. This possible introduction to the social model of disability is essential for young readers to understand and internalize, so they can learn to stand up for themselves and their disabled peers. The back of the book wisely includes more information and resources for readers to understand autism and intellectual disabilities, and how terminology and treatment of disabled people in the real world has changed since Nova's story occured.

I have little doubt that young readers on the autism spectrum will feel understood by this book, and that their allistic peers who read it will feel a greater understanding towards them. I was happy to learn that the book's author is autistic as well, and added some of their own behaviors to Nova's story. Self advocacy is important to the autistic community and to myself, but there aren't many published stories about autism by autistic writers. This is the only one I know of for a juvenile audience at the moment. I highly recommend this book to other readers, and especially to teachers, who could positively influence students by adding it to their classrooms or school reading list.