Different Like Me

Jennifer Elder is assistant editor in an established book publishing company. She and her husband have two sons, one of whom has ASD. You can read more about their family in the memoirs Sixpence House and Not Even Wrong.

Different Like Me is a book describing the lives of various people who found it difficult to fit into society. There are both famous and historical people who found it difficult to fit into society. There are both famous and historical people who all excelled in their chosen fields. It is beautifully illustrated and starts with an introduction to Quinn, who describes what it feels like to be different from others- to be, in fact, autistic.The famous people include Albert Einstein, Andy Warhol, Sir Isaac Newton and gives brief pen portraits of their lives, difficulties they encountered and their achievements.The book is written with children between the ages of eight and twelve years in mind, and could be a useful resource for explaining some of the effects of autism and the feeling of not fitting in or belonging.It offers good role models and will encourage those children with low self-esteem, that they, too, can achieve great things.

• Introduction. Albert Einstein. Dian Fossey. Andy Warhol. Benjamin Banneker. Andy Kaufman. Wassily Kandinsky. Julia Bowman Robinson. Piet Mondrian. Alan Turing. Sophie Germain. Lewis Carroll. Isaac Newton. Nikola Tesla. Paul Erdos. Glenn Gould. Immanuel Kant. Barbara McClintock. Joseph Cornell. Hans Christian Andersen. Temple Grandin.