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Title: Bråkiga ungar och snälla barn
By: Ann-Christin Thimon
Rating: 3/5
Language I read it in: Swedish
Date I finished reading it: Spring 2007
Original title: Bråkiga ungar och snälla barn
English title: N/A (translates as "Unruly kids and sweet children")
Published: 2000
Length: 114 pages
Genre: Course literature (University)
Main character(s): Ola, Klas and Malin who are all fictional characters with Asperger's Syndrome.
Synopsis: This book is meant for people who study to become teachers, it explains the best ways to deal with kids and teens who have AS.
Best: I am so glad that a book like this exists, it's great that teachers can finally find out how to deal with these kinds of things. There was no such book when I grew up.
Worst: That this book isn't something everyone has to read before they get to become a teacher. It should be mandatory, if you ask me.
Quotes: None this time.
Comments: This is the kind of book that should be available at every school so that every teacher could get to at least skim through it. There are so many people out there who have no idea what Asperger's Syndrome is and if no one even knows that that's what a certain person is suffering from, then in my experience, teachers can be the worst when it comes to judging you and assuming the worst just because they can't bother to try to understand you. This book could help, it's such a shame it hasn't done that - yet.
Title: A Real Person
By: Gunilla Gerland
Rating: 5/5
Language I read it in: Swedish
Date I finished reading it: Spring 2007
Original title: En riktig människa
English title: A Real Person
Published: 1996
Length: 256 pages (Swedish edition)
Genre: Autobiography
Main character(s): Gunilla.
Synopsis: This is the story about what it was like for Gunilla to grow up in a dysfunctional family that didn't even try to understand her and the way she saw the world.
Best: That she so openly tells the story about her life, both the good and the bad parts. That she sticks to the subject and doesn't wander off and write about other things, like so many other writers do when it comes to talking about themselves.
Worst: I can't think of one single bad thing about this book.
Quotes: Translated from Swedish by me:
"When I didn't understand I didn't care that much about what adults said, at least not in terms of obedience. But I became sad inside because they thought I was spoilt and lazy, and I thought they were right."
"My family and I didn't live in the same world. We hardly even came from the same planet."
Comments: This has to be the best book I have read about Asperger's Syndrome / High-functioning Autism, and it was also one of the first. I'll probably re-read it a million times before I get tired of it, it's just that good. It was like reading the story of my own life, and for the first time realizing that I wasn't alone. Like she said herself in the part I quoted, she felt like she wasn't even from the same planet as the rest of her family and that's how I felt too, before. When I read this book, it felt like I had finally found someone from my planet. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good autobiography or wants to learn what it's like to live with AS.
Title: Aspergers syndrom - och sedan?
By: Gunilla Gerland
Rating: 2.5/5
Language I read it in: Swedish
Date I finished reading it: Spring 2007
Original title: Aspergers syndrom - och sedan? (Swedish)
English title: N/A (translates as "Asperger's Syndrome - and then?")
Published: 2003
Length: 42 pages
Genre: Psychology
Main character(s): N/A
Synopsis: The book answers the most common questions about Asperger's Syndrome.
Best: A drawing on the 11th page where two people are talking and a third person is trying to understand what they're saying.
Person 1: "He solves problems by sweeping them under the rug!"
Person 2: "That's right!"
And person 3 just looks at the rug, trying to see the problems that are supposedly hidden under it. It's such a perfect explanation of a common problem when you have AS.
Worst: It's not exactly the most exciting book I've read.
Quotes: See above.
Comments: This was the second book I read about AS, and I remember that I found it helpful, it explained a lot of the questions that I had about my own life but didn't know how, or who, to ask. But it's mainly for young people who have just found out they have or might have Asperger's, so if that description doesn't fit you, then you should probably read something else.
Title: Det är bra att fråga
By: Gunilla Gerland
Rating: 3/5
Language I read it in: Swedish
Date I finished reading it: Spring 2007
Original title: Det är bra att fråga (Swedish)
English title: N/A (translates as "It is good to ask")
Published: 1997
Length: 47 pages
Genre: Psychology
Main character(s): N/A
Synopsis: This is just a short book with the most basic information about what Asperger's Syndrome is and what it's like to live with it.
Best: That it explains what Asperger's is in a way that's easy for anyone to understand, even children can read it.
Worst: See below, in "Comments". The book serves its purpose, so as long as you take it for what it is, it's all good.
Quotes: Nothing worth quoting.
Comments: If you don't know what Asperger's is and would like to find out, this is an as good place as any to start, but you can pretty much find this information for free online, so you might just as well save yourself the trouble of buying it. There are better books on the subject, though Gerland is a great writer when it comes to this topic.
Title: Bråkiga ungar och snälla barn
