The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide by Siena Castellon Insightful read written by a young lady on the spectrum. Her advice is for girls like her, but those who work in the educational field or friends/family of those on the spectrum would benefit from reading this book. Great read.

Four stars

Castellon provides a step-by-step, as the title suggests, survival guide for girls on the Autism Spectrum. I love how organized, detailed, and reader-friendly this manual is. In addition to an initial clear presentation, I kept thinking that the format would make it so easy for a reader to return to specific sections for refreshers as needed.

Though I am not part of the target audience, I wanted to read this work because I thought it might help give me insight into some of my students. I teach college and regularly come across students who self-identify in this way. Along with gaining insight into the varied ways in which a person on the spectrum might experience the world, I was pleasantly surprised to find so much more here.

There are helpful descriptions of a number of potential co-occurring options. These come with suggested accommodations sections. While I am fortunate to work at a school that does a great job with accommodations (and in a geographic location where we focus on this more than many places), I am always interested to know what I can do better as an individual instructor to support my students' successes. I found this book so helpful on that front.

Because I feel so removed from the intended audience, I'm struggling a bit to rate this book. That noted, as a member of the unintended audience, I found it extremely effective. I'll be recommending this to my students and colleagues to help build understanding of themselves and of our respective communities.

Thanks to the author for writing with so much candor and being willing to provide much-needed insight!

While I am not on the spectrum and therefore my opinion cannot be considered entirely valid, I can say from the perspective of someone who knows many people on the spectrum and who is in school to become a special needs educator that this appears to be a well written and helpful book. I love that it is own voice and is from the perspective of a teen girl rather than an adult.

I feel that it is not my place to put a rating on this book as I am not the intended audience.

I received this book as an e-arc from Netgalley. This does not affect my opinions.

I #amreading The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide by @NCWeek on #NetGalley. It covers just about everything you could think of that might affect a teen girl (incl trans). Impressed by how informative it is, even down to very basic things, without patronising or preaching #Autism https://t.co/C1bJZ4eLN9

Thank God for Siena Castellion, this book is everything I wish I'd had when I was younger! I remember wishing there was such a thing as a how-to guide to life, there wasn't then, but this book is as close as there's ever going to be for Aspie girls. Or even Aspie non-girls for that matter, although some of the information is definitely aimed at bio-girls, there is a lot that boys can benefit from too, and non-Aspie's who want to understand better.
It would be easy to say that Castellion is 'only' 16 but that would be a disservice to her, and the fact that her voice and writing style is spot on for a book aimed at tweens and teens. She covers a wealth of topics, from fairly light-hearted tips on how to handle clothing-related sensory difficulties, to heavier subjects like self-harm and suicidal ideation. Each part is handled with care and empathy. The author fully understands what she writes and it shows.
In a book like this, it would be easy to become bogged down with all of the info, but the balance is just right. Each section is crafted to give plenty of information, to make sure the reader, no matter what they're experiencing, feels seen.
I recommend this book to anyone on the spectrum, and loved ones who want to understand or give as a gift.

Written by a British 16 year old, this book has good intentions, offering support for autistic girls and young women. I am an autistic woman, and read this with the question in mind of whether this would have been helpful for me. The answer is complicated. Castellon’s approach is upbeat and encouraging, but is often problematic as well. She repeatedly recommends autistic kids turn to their parents for help, based on what appears to be a positive and supportive relationship with her own parents, but many autistic kids won’t have that kind of parental relationship. Parents—and other adults and authority figures— are often focused on cure, and nowhere does she address how to handle the ongoing issues that stem from that. She also embraces the idea of calling her aspects of autism “superpowers,” which is a compensation narrative many autistic people reject, and rightly so, because it further Others us and makes us seem abnormal. She cites Greta Thunberg as a role model, but seems unaware that much of Greta’s success comes from her privileged parents—something few of us have. The book is full of anecdotes that share Castellon’s experiences with bullying, bad friends, and uneducated educators, but her message that by working with parents and finding mentors you can trust will make everything better is naive and Pollyanna-ish. I’d like to have a book about living with autism that is more realistic and isn’t afraid to tackle the much darker issues and problems of being an autistic girl or woman in our patriarchal, racist, sexist, capitalist society, with real advice for the hard times.

This is an absolutely incredible resource for me as an autistic teenager. I have never been more whole hardheartedly grateful to receive not only an arc but a book in general from a publishing company. I almost cried reading this from happiness,, I love this book but I think you got that.

I will be talking about this book in videos a lot in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. I think it is awesome to write about a subject that does not have a lot of books out there. It was much longer than I anticipated. I love that it was written by a 16-year-old and she is really putting herself out there and sharing her story. I really enjoyed the information in the book even though it is written towards people on the spectrum and I am not and I think that is really important because this is a book everyone can read and enjoy.

I am a bit older than the target audience (hitting 21 in a couple of days) but even I could definitely still learn new things. This is exactly the kind of book I would have needed as the confused, bullied outsider I was in middle and high school. I am certain that this book will help many young girls and pave the way for a new generation of autism acceptance.
There are many awesome details about this novel and I can't count all of them but here is a selection:
* an introduction by Temple Grandin, maybe the most famous autistic woman and scholar, an absolute role model for every young girl reading this
* a teenage survival guide written by an autistic teen for autistic teens because nothing about us without us. Most autism books are written by allistic people and most books for teens are written by adults who are completely removed from the teenage experience, especially bullying, so this is the most accurate guide you can get
*it is transgender and queer inclusive
*discusses functioning labels and why they are problematic
*names both the real and painful struggles about growing up autistic and being bullied but also focuses on self-love, seeing autism as a superpower
*pro and con lists in several chapters so the readers can figure out what works for them and highlights choice and living your authentic life and, for example, mentions that you do not have to come out to anyone, perform traditional femininity etc

This is a wonderful resources for adolescents on the spectrum who are dealing with finding their place in the world. Though targeted at girls, there are many chapters in here that will be applicable to boys as well. After speaking about the premise with a few adults who were spectrum girls struggling to find their own voices and carve their own paths, I've been told that this is the type of book they wish someone had given them at that tween / teen age. Definitely a good resource for counselors, parents, and teachers to recommend...and even read themselves!