Can You See Me?

Tally is starting secondary school and she’s anxious about lots of things. Acclimatising to new surroundings and learning the ways of different teachers is tough. Plus there's the boy who calls her names, and her friends from primary school who she's always depended on before have started talking about things that just don't interest her (like boys) and cautioning her when her behaviour is embarrassing.

Tally knows she’s different: she’s autistic, meaning she sees and feels everything differently to her friends and family. Now, as she enters this new stage in her life, she is painfully aware of the way she is perceived and feeling an almost unbearable pressure to try to fit in. But what exactly are the rules for being “normal”?

Written in collaboration with young blogger Libby, who is herself autistic, this is a powerful and highly relatable story about fitting in and being yourself. Tally's diary entries give an authentic insight into one girl's perspective of being autistic, and smashing a host of common assumptions and stereotypes about autism as we see Tally’s potent sense of humour and her deep empathy. Most powerful of all is Tally’s ultimate realisation that autism is not something that needs to be hidden.