RULES FOR CAMOUFLAGE

Multiple trials make a neurodivergent Minnesota teenager’s last days of high school decidedly tumultuous.

Like Aretha, the octopus she tends devotedly as a volunteer at the nearby zoo, Evvie Chambers has an intense personality as well as the ability to camouflage herself when needed. Both qualities come into play when a possibly romantic connection develops with a fellow volunteer and the band storage room known as the Lair (a safe retreat for students who need it) is exposed. Due entirely to mutual personal animus, a teacher also threatens to deny her the grade she needs to graduate. (Though that same bad apple stands by silently while a vicious teen bully targets classmates, other staff members do show up to do the right thing.) Neurotypical characters generally stay in the background; most of those in Evvie’s circle, including her own divorced mom, have diagnosed differences that are clearly and sensitively observed in Evvie’s first-person narrative but never named. This approach allows readers to go beyond labels to see the unique mix of abilities and vulnerabilities in each person. Ultimately Evvie does successfully, even joyously, weather both emotional and academic challenges. On the way to a buoyant ending, the author splices in rich veins of encouragement as well as useful coping strategies, and at the very end, Aretha slithers onstage to deliver a heartening, informative, informational pep talk. Most of the cast registers as white.

Intense and sometimes scary, but chock-full of heart and heady affirmation.