Meet Fran and her assistance dog, Barnaby. Fran is non-speaking autistic and Barnaby gets stolen outside a shop. How will she cope? What will she do when she sees Pete from the Pet Rescuers team? Find out in my latest children's book in my autism brand, Fran and the Canine Chase. It is available from 'Zon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1915114187
BTW my editor says it is a great addition to the series.
Happy new year. It is a new year so there will be new books to publish this year. Here is what I have planned.
I was planning to publish the fourth Sammi picture book early this year but due to financial reasons I am going to have to wait until I build up funds from writing profits to be able to do so. It might be later this year or even next year. I do want to publish this last picture book. The rest of the Sammi stories I have in mind will be put into a collection of stories with a working title of 'Sammi and Best Friends'. I already have written and typed up the first one.
The first definite publication will be Fran's story called 'Fran and the Canine Chase'. This is book 4 in The Pet Rescuers series and is a bit different to the others. Fran is non speaking autistic and communicates with her hands and her device, which she needs to use when her assistance dog is stolen. It has been edited. All I need to do now is put in the ISBN and send it to my cover designer next month when she is free.
The other book I do plan to publish later this year is the first cozy mystery in the Anna Travers Mysteries. It is called 'The Blackmail Bombshell' where Anna discovers a letter blackmailing her late mother when she starts unpacking from inheriting her mum's house. Not only does she discover the letter but the spirit of her late mother, who goes on to help her solve the mystery. This story will only be available as an ebook to start with due to financial reasons.
If you have seen or read any of my other adult ebooks then you know that I like writing stories with helpful ghosts in. If you haven't seen them, then the first series was Geraldine's Gems and featured Geraldine who went to heaven but had to earn her place there. That book is called One Good Turn and is available here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0090HBZ62
I have also renamed my writing workshop and it is called Story Magic. I have been pitching it to libraries and schools so far. If you know any budding storytellers, then this is for them. It involves creating a story or first chapter of a book using a story prompt that comes from one of my books plus two picture prompts including a magical one.
If you are an author, what are you planning to publish this year?
Hello, Billy from Billy and the Sparkling Socks here.
I am here to tell you that as a writer and storyteller, one good way to learn about autism is to read books about autistic characters. As I am only eleven, here are a few recommendations of children's books featuring autistic characters, and most of them are written by autistic authors I have been told.
For teens
Geek Girl series by Holly Smale. The first one in the series is now on Netflix.
You can buy the book here
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Geek-Girl-Book/dp/0007489447/ref=sr_1_1?tag=juliedayautho-21
The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas
https://www.amazon.co.uk/State-Grace-Rachael-Lucas/dp/1509839550/ref=sr_1_1?tag=juliedayautho-21
The Secrets of my Spectrum by Callum Knight (a memoir)
For middle school children
The Emily Edwards books by Laura Holt-Haslam
For 7-9 year-olds
The Rainbow School series including my (Billy) story Billy and the Sparkling Socks
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/154264853X/ref=sr_1_1?tag=juliedayautho-21
The Pet Rescuers series featuring my classmates, Lyn and Pete.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lyn-Parrot-Pursuit-Julie-Day/dp/1915114047/ref=sr_1_1?tag=juliedayautho-21
(Contains affiliate links)
Happy reading. You can learn different things about autism and being autistic from each book.
There are lots of ways to find and learn about autism, and these are the ways that I am learning from too. Even though I have Asperger's myself, there is still a lot about being autistic that is new to me and I am finding out. So let's find out together. I split the learning into two sections: fiction and non-fiction. I will start with fiction.
Fiction
Of course I will begin with my own children's autism books 'The Rainbow School' and 'The Pet Rescuers' for 7-10 year-olds. The first series you can find out from my website www.julieaday.co.uk and the second series can be found either via The Book Dragon or Amazon. I have yet to organise for my website designer to put them on there. All of them can be found on the Book Dragon website https://www.thebookdragon.co.uk/
I have just bought the 'Geek Girl' series by Holly Smale. Holly is autistic and I believe so is the main character. There is also 'The State of Grace' by Rachael Lucas which is based on her own daughter who is autistic.
Non-fiction
There are a couple of digital magazines that I know of. SEN magazine and Autism Parenting Magazine. I have had one article in the latter and hope to have more, which will be about growing up with autism and how my mum helped me over the years. You can find out more about this magazine here https://members.autismparentingmagazine.com/dap/a/?a=55311&p=AutismParentingMagazine.com/freegift
There are lots of books about autism and how to help autistics in life. Here are a few that I know about and I have read: Dr Temple Grandin, Pete Wharmby, Jane McNeice, Steve Silberman. There is also 'Marching to a different beat' by Sarah Ziegel, a mother of four autistic boys.
There are also groups on Facebook/Meta who offer webinars and training to help autistic adults and children. The ones I know about are The Nurture Progamme by Jodie Isitt, Ausome Training by Evaleen Whelan.
There is one community where there is learning from webinars, training and chat groups with like-minded autistics. That is Neurodiversity Training International. They have a community App called The EndeeSphere App, which I am an ambassador of. There is a free membership, which comes with a 7-day free trial of the paid version to start with. You can find out more about them here https://www.endeesphereapp.com/a/2147773941/zqK5pxow
All of the above are run by autistics themselves, so know what it is like to live as such.
