Book Review: Good Different

At-A-Glance

Title: Good Different

Review

Good Different is a refreshing novel-in-verse story about a neurodivergent girl’s rules for acting normal, and her struggle to navigate the increasing social complexities of her world. Her path is one of discovering her neurodivergence and learning to celebrate her differences. It’s aimed at middle-grade readers.

This was the first novel-in-verse I’ve read, or, as it were, listened to. And I loved it! Selah’s story is real and so relatable. It’s beautiful and healing how her struggles to hold it all in—to be “normal” and “good”—are portrayed along with showing Selah’s “behaviors” aren’t malicious or intentional. She’s simply different.

Good Different offers much needed insights into an autistic girl’s experiences. It’s a wonderful book to help foster a discussion about neurodivergence and having grace for each other.

The year’s not over yet, but it’s safe to say Good Different is my favorite book for 2023.

Storyline

An extraordinary novel-in-verse for fans of Starfish and A Kind of Spark about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.

Selah knows her rules for being normal.

She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.

Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.

Selah’s friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.

But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late?

This is a moving and unputdownable story about learning to celebrate the things that make us different. Good Different is the perfect next read for fans of Counting by 7s or Jasmine Warga.

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