The Reason I Jump By Naoki Higashida (135 pages)

Naoki Higashida was diagnosed with autism when he was 5 years old. At age 13, he used an alphabet grid to put his thoughts into words and in 2007, a book of his thoughts was published in Japan. David Mitchell found the Japanese version and pushed to get an English translation published. Naoki’s words helped Mitchell understand what was going on in his autistic son’s mind.

Written in question and answer form, Naoki shares the reasoning behind common behaviors of autistic people. He makes connections to himself, but manages to provide reasoning about the average autistic kid. “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?” “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?” “What’s the reason you jump?” His explanations are so powerful, you’ll never look at an autistic person the same way again.

I would highly recommend this nonfiction book to anyone who works with autistic people, wants to work with autistic people, or has someone autistic in their life. As noted by a Good Reads reviewer “autism has affected so many families around the world, and many people are trying to understand it better. I think this book will help light the way.”