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<\/a><\/center><\/div>I began, as I usually do with books that claim to represent a certain minority or historical era, with the acknowledgements section and author\u2019s biography. The acknowledgments section made no mention of consulting anyone with autism, or even a mental health professional with some familiarity with autism. This led me to worry that the author had neglected to get even second-hand knowledge of what it\u2019s like to have autism. Unfortunately, it\u2019s very common for authors not to consult with autistic people, instead working from existing media portrayals for their knowledge. Working from book research alone in portraying a condition as diverse as autism is already dubious, but there wasn\u2019t even an indication of how much of that he\u2019d done.<\/p>\nHowever, several elements were portrayed well, early on in the story. Red\u2019s tendency to describe things with excessive precision \u2014 for example, calling Rip \u201cMason Irving\u201d or the cafeteria lunch \u201cSuper Salad featuring chilled chicken tender strips, crispy green lettuce, and freshly diced tomatoes\u201d \u2014 reminded me of how I always called my childhood therapist by both her first name and last name, because that was how she was introduced to me. Red\u2019s reactions to feeling confused and overwhelmed also seemed true to life; he stims to soothe himself and repeats his questions. Later on, Red is the only one to notice that their teacher, Mr. Acevedo, is upset, just before he makes a distressing announcement. This display of uncanny intuition is something I find is common in autistic people, but not as common in autistic narratives as written by neurotypicals. I was pleased to see this.<\/p>\n
The story begins by introducing a new teacher, a new curriculum, and a new basketball league for Rip and Red\u2019s school \u2014 all good changes, but stressful for a child with autism like Red, who thrives with a routine. Each new situation brings a lot of questions, a lot of stimming, and the need for lots of reassurance.<\/p>\n
Red loves basketball and is gifted at it, but the leagues have recently been made competitive and his mom won\u2019t allow him to compete. This causes difficulty later in the book, because the team struggles without him. Rip cites the very legitimate concern that Red might melt down if he\u2019s body-checked by a stranger, and Red is still allowed to play at practices, but I would be surprised if he weren\u2019t at least a little disappointed. However, the book shows no explicit reaction on Red\u2019s part to this decision \u2014 another reason that I feel he isn\u2019t treated as a fully developed character.<\/p>\n
When it became clear that all the students\u2019 parents \u00a0were aware that adjustments were taking place at the school, I was somewhat appalled that no one had thought to tell Red things were going to be different, so that he would have a chance to mentally prepare. \u00a0One of the things that was emphasized in my therapy was that it was important to warn an autistic person ahead of a new experience. If the parents were aware that summer that Red \u00a0would have a different teacher in the fall, I don\u2019t understand why he wasn\u2019t given that consideration. It felt like a strange oversight, given that they are usually sensitive to his needs. (For example, Rip\u2019s mother serves the same food every time Red comes over on a Saturday.) But of course, if they took Red\u2019s comfort into account then there would be no chance for conflict. It\u2019s a common mechanism of exploiting an autistic narrative.<\/p>\n
As Rip works on a separate group project with a cynical girl named Avery (who uses a wheelchair \u2014 one strong positive of this author is that he seems committed to representation), there is less and less of Red as the book goes on. On the occasions when he does appear, his character is contradictory without explanation. Sometimes he can deal with watching and participating in the basketball games, sometimes he can\u2019t. Sometimes he is hampered by an overdone case of literalism (mentioning it once or twice is fine, but the author relies on it far too much), other times it\u2019s easier for him to grasp figures of speech. Early on in the book, Rip says only he and a few grown-ups are allowed to touch Red, yet he will give spontaneous hugs. I understand better than most that autistic people often appear to contradict themselves; for example, I am comfortable with initiating touch if it\u2019s wanted, but I am uncomfortable with people touching me uninvited. But instead of explaining these contradictions, the author never addresses them, leaving some of Red\u2019s behavior to be viewed as out-of-character.<\/p>\n
Throughout the book, it is emphasized that Red is part of the team, both in the classroom and on the basketball court. However, the author seems to use him and his autism as more of a pawn to further the story, discarding him when not needed. Red\u2019s dislike of change plays a large role early in the book, as everyone tries to help him adjust. His talent at basketball and restriction from competing means that Rip\u2019s team is hampered without him, but the adults change their minds last-minute and let Red \u201csave\u201d them during the final competition, their last chance to win. This might be seen as positive \u2014 giving Red a chance to be the star \u2014 but it came across as artificial, because he had faded from the narrative by that point. His amazing basketball ability, quite a pleasing trait in a world where very few autistic characters are shown playing sports, is used in a way that seems gimmicky. All of these scenes give Red very little agency as a character. Instead of getting a chance to develop as a person, Red is controlled by other people\u2019s decisions: the decision to make changes in the school curriculum, the decision not to inform him about these changes, the decisions about when and where he is allowed to participate as a member of the basketball team. We see his reactions, but he isn\u2019t given a chance to act on his own, and that is unfortunate.<\/p>\n
There is some good news: A Whole New Ballgame<\/em> is the first in a series. There are at least three more books planned and each has the subtitle \u201ca Rip and Red book.\u201d This gives me hope that there will be further chances for Red to come into his own as a character, and truly share the byline with Rip. Thus, despite this book not quite meeting my expectations, I\u2019m eager to read the next in the series.<\/p>\nAt one point, Avery says to Rip, \u201cRed is the autistic kid … You\u2019re the black kid who lives and breathes basketball. I\u2019m the wheeler. That\u2019s who we are. Deal with it.\u201d It\u2019s clear that the author is attempting to show that this is not true, and people are more than just their labels. Perhaps in the next books, he\u2019ll be able to paint a fuller picture of Red, beyond that of \u201cthe autistic kid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although several elements of Red’s autism are portrayed well and I’m eager to read the sequels, the character is often relegated to muttering statistics and nervously stimming in the background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[228,229],"genre":[5],"age_category":[6],"disability":[7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729"}],"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\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2729"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7275,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions\/7275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=2729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}