The way it hurts

Author:            Patty Blount

Publisher:        Napperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks Fire, 2017

Annotation:

Music is everything for guitarist Elijah’s life, which tells a realistic story about his rock band playing that he can do anything to be successful and get a big break. He cares for his sister Anna, who has autism, that he prioritises. Elijah meets actress Kristen at a high school musical production of Cats and he could not get his eyes off her. He invited her to lead sing with the band, as it would make the band more famous for fans. However, social media response turned negative with physical threats and cyberbullying which impacted on Kristen. Not only it impacts on her, but the fan behaviour does impact on Anna too which Elijah wakes up to this. The storyline is character-driven with the tone of high-drama.

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The Black Balloon

Director: Elissa Down

Writers: Elissa Down & Jimmy Jack

Production: Australian Film Commission, The Australian Film Finance Corporation, Black Balloon Productions, Icon Entertainment International & The New South Wales Film and Television Office

Year: 2008

Annotation:

The film is an Australian comedy-drama romance on a family moved and settled in to New South Wales. The protagonist is Thomas, who is turning sixteen, lives with his autistic brother Charlie. Thomas wants to have a normal adolescence, but his brother is always in his way and takes every opportunity. The storyline portrays of the whole family dealing and coping with Charlie’s behaviour day by day. The care, love and support of Charlie is strong, though there are ups and downs moments. For Thomas, he feels isolated and embarrassed wishing that Charlie can be normal. Thomas find romance with Jackie which changes the situation where Charlie presents problems when she is around. Jackie understands and empathise of Thomas’s situation and circumstances. The feel and tone of the film is heart-warming, difficult and confronting.

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Kids like us

Author: Hilary Reyl

Publisher: Melbourne, Victoria: The Text Publishing Company, 2017

Annotation:

This realistic and teenage romance fiction novel is a first-person narrative of a teenage boy name Martin, 16, on the high-functioning autism spectrum. The book chapters are not followed by conventional numbers, instead it is followed by date and timestamp. The tone is moving with writing style very thoughtful. Martin leaves from hometown to France with his mother and older sister for the summer, where he attends a local high school’s summer program. He has a crush on a girl who he thinks of a real-life character in his favourite book by the French author Marcel Proust. He figures out how to fall in love with overcoming challenges to his own perception and social interaction.

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