Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism 2014-10-20

Loved this book! I love how Owen's family embraced his special interest in Disney films and would actually act them out/become his favorite characters in order to help him feel safe in/understand the world around him. As a child, I loved it when my parents would pretend to be my favorite animated characters, like Doc from the Seven Dwarfs, Mushu from Mulan, etc. The only disheartening aspect of the book, as far as I could tell, was Owen's family's discouraging of his stimming behavior, which they referred to as "silly." It was a bit sad to read that during stressful periods of Owen's life when stimming was needed, he would keep himself in check by keeping his hands at his sides and chastising himself with "No silly!" Other than that, I would recommend this book highly to everyone. :)