Eleven-year-old Oli is spending his spring break at Heroes Club, where autistic kids like him can build friendships and learn about their emotions. Sounds fun, right? No. Nothing like a week of forced socialization and emotional learning to ruin spring break. Oli just wants to be home, where it’s familiar, not so boring, and he can play games on his phone.
But when Oli and the other kids at the club see a stray dog who keeps disappearing into a soon-to-be-demolished building across the street, they hatch a daring rescue plan to save the dog before it’s too late. It will take bravery, some seriously smart teamwork, and a few broken rules to make a difference. For Oli and his new friends in the Heroes Club, using their unique talents and perspectives together will be a challenge. But doing the right thing is entirely worth it.
Speaking from experience, there is nothing worse for an autistic kid than forced socialization.
The Heroes Club psychologists/instructors in charge did a fantastic job running the program. They weren’t pushy or overly enthusiastic. They taught the kids lessons on how to recognize and self-regulate their emotions. It helped that one of the instructors is autistic. One instructor made a point of saying it’s ok not to make eye contact. I like this because some people make such a big deal about autistic people making eye contact. The program was much better structured than the group study I went to in middle school. The people running the group study had no idea how to engage with us.
I don’t know if a program like the Heroes Club would have helped me as a kid. Based on my elementary school memories, I would have begrudgingly gone along with the activities. I would’ve been extremely uncomfortable the whole time and felt like I was doing every interaction wrong. I probably would have frozen up like Oli did in the beginning.
Poor Oli has such low self-esteem at the start of the book. I loved seeing his confidence grow throughout the five-day program.
I loved the varied representation of autistic kids. Some were loud and all over the place, and some were quiet and withdrawn. My favorite was Max, a little boy who never stopped talking, singing, and dancing around with his Legos. Oli found Max annoying on the first day but grew to care for him by the fifth day. I’ve met this sort of kid before at my book readings. They are a bit disruptive, but I mostly wish I could pause my reading to interact with them.
It was nerve-racking how the adults repeatedly dismissed the kids’ worries about the dog. The adults left them no choice but to take matters into their own hands. Sometimes, you have to break some rules to do what is right.
I recommend this book to every kid on the autism spectrum, every parent with an autistic child, and anyone who knows someone on the autism spectrum.