Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

Erin is in Year 12 and is looking forward to finishing school and heading to Schoolies to celebrate because that is what you do. However, in her letters to her brother, her truths start to be revealed.

This is an own-voices book, and we need a lot more of these. What we see is Erin, who is autistic, as a central character, not a peripheral character, and she is written by Kerr, who is also autistic. What does that mean? Well, for this book, it means that this is not a book about autism, it’s a book about teenage life with a main character who is autistic. It’s funny and, at times, heartbreaking, and beautiful and I totally loved it. I’m keeping Kerr on my radar for future books.