\u201cThen what are you?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m me,\u201d I said. (59)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Later in the book, in an act of self-advocacy, Candice writes a note to her substitute teacher explaining why she can\u2019t complete an assignment in the same manner as her schoolmates. \u201cSome people think I am on some sort of spectrum, but I don\u2019t think I am. It\u2019s just that I am different from most students,\u201d she writes. (200-201) Interestingly, during my first read, I didn\u2019t immediately think of her as disabled. I did think of her as like me when I was her age. Adding a disability lens, it was easy for me to see her autism. Looking back, I felt like she felt at ages twelve and thirteen. I believe I would\u2019ve enjoyed reading the book in my early teen years, during which time I didn\u2019t have an autism spectrum diagnosis. I related to Candice more in the past than the present. Now I\u2019m not quite so literal, scrupulous, or na\u00efve.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve looked around, but I haven\u2019t yet found Barry Jonsberg confirming whether he intended Candice to be autistic. Is Candice\u2019s diagnostic ambiguity a problem? Does it show us that Candice is okay with being different, but uncomfortable with the idea of being disabled? Did Jonsberg leave autism out so readers with and without specific labels might feel a kinship to her? Maybe it\u2019s a reflection of real life, in that Candice, as female, is less likely to receive an autism diagnosis, or more likely to receive one at a later age. In any case, who am I to judge how she identifies in terms of ability?<\/p>\n
As an autistic reader, I enjoyed that Candice\u2019s autistic traits and personality aren\u2019t separated into two distinct piles, but rather integrated with one another. Candice is precise, determined, absolutely honest and straightforward, friendly, and smart. She\u2019s a wordsmith with a supremely expansive vocabulary and a wry sense of humor. In many ways, these parts of her personality are tied also to being on the autism spectrum. Her autistic characteristics aren\u2019t grouped together and viewed as negative. By making Candice unabashedly, genuinely be herself, Jonsberg sends the message to accept and celebrate our differences.<\/p>\n
Candice\u2019s emotions and desire for friendship are two areas that stand out in the narrative. These same two areas are highly important when it comes to fighting autism stereotypes. Candice experiences both a broad range of feelings and a depth within each specific emotion. She feels anger, confusion, excitement, fear, grief, guilt, happiness, and hope. Candice\u2019s colorful palate of feelings is proof that autistic characters can expansively experience emotions and empathy, instead of falling into robotic two-dimensionality.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the social realm, Candice struggles with relationships. When her new friend Douglas Benson invites her to tea, she recognizes that \u201c[t]his was both amazingly exciting and deeply troubling. Exciting, because no one had ever invited me to afternoon tea before.\u201d (39) She faithfully writes to her American penpal Denille despite lack of reciprocity, and she likes and sees the kids in her class as potential friends, despite their bullying behavior. It\u2019s painfully familiar to see her giving the benefit of the doubt to callous classmates: She tells her mom, who is \u201cdubious\u201d at her bright outlook on a project with a mean schoolmate, \u201cJen Marshall has many wonderful qualities. I am confident we will become bosom buddies, or as Jen would say, BFFs \u2014 Best Friends Forever.\u201d (180) Despite her difficulties with friendship, Candice is depicted as loving her fellow humans. From worrying that her goldfish will think she\u2019s a god when she really just wants to be friends to creating a new part of her daily routine in order to protect her new friend Douglas, Candice is depicted as a good friend who tries very hard to help others and cares about their wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Although she\u2019s usually independent and confident in herself, Candice occasionally faces moments of self-hatred, in which she wishes she were different, and these, too, felt realistic. Considering the idea of alternate universes, Candice thinks, \u201cI liked the idea of a normal me somewhere, doing normal things and thinking normal thoughts \u2014 a Candice who wasn\u2019t called a shortened form of Special Needs, who had a boyfriend and a phone, who went to sleepovers and drank cider and liked rap songs.\u201d (125) Other sadly realistic parts of the book included school bullying, such as Jen picking on Candice\u2019s romance by saying \u201cThe retards have got together,\u201d (148) and the many mentions of how Candice learned to control her stimming by fighting the urge to hum to herself, despite how humming soothes her in moments of anxiety or confusion.<\/p>\n
I felt Barry Jonsberg captured the feeling of being Candice without making her into a laughingstock. She embarks on adventures and takes drastic measures in order to help the people around her, but she isn\u2019t a superhero \u2014 just an extremely determined young teen. Her conflict is not autism, which is also refreshing. Some may argue this is because her autism is less defined than it would be in a character with a confirmed diagnosis. How much does a mainly positive portrayal of autism mean when it\u2019s situated in this context\u00a0 \u2014that is, the ambiguity surrounding whether or not the main character is intended to be autistic?<\/p>\n
Although I enjoyed the book, I\u2019d be remiss if I glossed over its problematic elements. To me, the most problematic element of the narrative was how Jonsberg linked Candice\u2019s oddities to her baby sister\u2019s death from SIDS. Candice says others believe \u201c[t]hat I blame myself for what happened to Sky and that my strange behavior stems from guilt. [\u2026] Was it all, in some peculiar fashion, a way of punishing myself for imaginary crimes? It would explain a lot. My writing of notes, rather than talking to people I don\u2019t know well. Some of my \u2026 obsessions.\u201d (51) Candice notes that despite her guilt, helplessness, and grief, she rationally realizes that it\u2019s not her fault. Unfortunately, this sentiment hardly contradicts Jonsberg\u2019s imaginary linking of autism symptoms with a traumatic event. Sure, some autistic people may manifest post-traumatic stress disorder differently than nonautistics. But it\u2019s harmful for Jonsberg to explain away a constellation of traits typically associated with the autism spectrum as a trauma reaction.<\/p>\n
The second area I see as problematic is the way Candice\u2019s character describes kissing. She thinks her first kiss is nothing to \u201cfuss\u201d over. In a detached fashion, she remarks that it didn\u2019t feel like \u201clove,\u201d which she equates to physical bodily signs. Candice writes, \u201cApparently the pressure of lips is also meant to be pleasurable. Tingles are supposed to run down your spine. My spine was tingle-free. I checked.\u201d (147) I find it upsetting that in this moment, Candice spouts scientific understandings of feelings \u2014 especially because throughout the rest of the book, she is caring and empathetic with a firm grasp on love. Writers can fall into the trap of denying autistic characters sexual agency. \u00a0It\u2019s easy to over-focus on sensory issues instead of sexual and romantic orientation. For instance, Candice wonders, \u201cIf kisses are so wonderful, why are they sloppy, messy, and involve exchanging bodily fluids?\u201d (145) When it comes to love plotlines, I want to read about autistic people making empowered choices about relationships and romance \u2014 or the lack thereof \u2014 inclusive of all sexual orientations. I don\u2019t want to wade through nonautistic interpretations of relational difficulty that strip away romantic and sexual possibilities. Alternative interpretations of Candice\u2019s reaction to the kiss could include that she is just kissing the wrong person, or that she could be queer. At least she seems open to different concepts of sexuality, as evidenced in a comment she makes to her penpal about \u201cclos[ing] your eyes when a boy kisses you (or a girl, I imagine. I don\u2019t see why it should be gender-specific).\u201d (146)<\/p>\n
The other aspect I see as a problem in the book is how Jonsberg deals with Candice\u2019s mother\u2019s depression. The character is deeply depressed for almost the whole book, until she begins antidepressants toward the end. As someone who\u2019s been depressed myself and has taken SSRIs in the past, I disliked that Jonsberg called the medication \u201chappy pills\u201d in dialogue (208). Jonsberg hardly invented the colloquialism \u201chappy pills\u201d, but I wish writers would avoid this phrasing unless it directly adds to the scene. \u00a0I felt it was a bit too simplistic for medication to replace the mother\u2019s experience of depression with happiness.<\/p>\n
In the two other young adult novels I\u2019ve read that feature girls on the autism spectrum, authors pathologized autistic ways of being. Whether omitting an official autism label allows Jonsberg to celebrate Candice\u2019s differences is up for interpretation. In my opinion, Candice is still a three-dimensional autistic female protagonist. Most importantly, she sees her life as interconnected to others\u2019 lives. The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee <\/em>is a fun, well-written young adult book, if an imperfect autism read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee<\/em> is a fun, well-written book, if an imperfect autism read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":2303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[140,194],"genre":[5],"age_category":[6],"disability":[7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7305,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions\/7305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=2302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/candicephee-300x381.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/div>Candice lives in Albright, Australia, with her disconnected father and depressed mother. She narrates her life story and current conflicts through the format of a school assignment for English class \u2014 to write an autobiographical essay with twenty-six paragraphs, each focusing around one letter of the alphabet. Right away we learn how intense Candice is when she decides to devote one book chapter to each letter instead \u2014 after all, she has a lot more to say about her life than academic restrictions would allow. She is actively trying to help her mother emerge from depression, bring her father and estranged Rich Uncle Brian back together, heal from her own sadness over her baby sister Sky\u2019s death, and make friends.<\/p>\n