All the Pieces of Me

‘Home is like being alone in your own pack of lions. You don’t always get along with them, but you know you belong with them. Being in school is like being thrown in with the whole zoo.’

For 14 year old Tally, starting Year 9 is not proving easy.  Attempting to maintain friendships is exhausting, understanding teachers’ expectations is challenging and making sense of all the spoken and unspoken rules of school life is quite simply a nightmare. Plus, being on the autistic spectrum, she finds the combination of shouting, canteen smells, floor polish and fluorescent strip lighting a painful onslaught on her senses. Then, to top it all, best friend Layla announces that she’s moving to the States, leaving a lonely Tally with some tough decisions to make on the friendship front.  It appears that there can sometimes be a hefty price tag attached to being accepted in a group - the question is whether it’s one Tally is prepared to pay. 

This is an unreservedly readable and universally relatable picture of school life.  With a wholly authentic voice, further enhanced by the many intermittent journal entries and ‘news reports’ from Libby Scott (herself an autistic teenager), this is the fourth book created by the impressive Scott-Westcott team.  Thoughtful, funny, touching and convincing, this is a book about loyalty, family, friendship, making difficult choices and finding your voice.  It also subtly shares some powerful (but never preachy) messages about neurodiversity, the good and bad facets of social media and learning that ‘not-good friends’ are not really ‘friends’ at all.