This class goes a step beyond your average book club and is designed to support neurodivergent learners. The texts are chosen with high concepts and interest but with easier language. Texts chosen are available on platforms with dyslexia-friendly options including audiobooks. Scaffolding is provided for new or non-literal language. The course is taught by a neurodivergent educator. Additionally, each unit includes at least one book with a neurodivergent character so that learners have the opportunity to see diverse positive representations. 
Each unit incorporates literature, poetry, and at least one form of creative writing such as graphic novels or dramas as well as non-fiction text. We will use novels and texts to help us explore feelings, ideas, and humanize contemporary issues for young critical thinkers. (All texts used with permission of author/publisher).
In each class, we will study award-winning literature to explore books on a theme. We will incorporate other subject areas as well as practice vocabulary,  reading comprehension, creative writing, and academic composition. This course involves a substantial amount of independent work and assumes the learner will dedicate approximately 45 minutes to an hour each weekday we do not meet. A teacher-created workbook is included with your enrollment in the course to guide reading. For each section, activities include vocabulary development, handwriting, reading comprehension questions, short-response questions to practice critical thinking, and a writer’s craft activity using our novel as a mentor text and involving a short essay or creative writing piece. These activities can be completed or skipped based on the needs of the individual learner to provide more time and support for emerging skills. 
In this unit we will be reading "The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family" by  Sarah Kapit. This contemporary fiction piece is written by an autistic author and explores the middle school adventures of two autistic sisters as they attempt to solve big mysteries in their family and school lives and handle the challenges of growing up. 
Week 1: We will complete introductions, build background knowledge, and do pre-reading activities like an anticipation guide. We will read chapters 1 through 7. We will also explore autistic characters in fiction and compare and contrast them with those presented in the novel and students own experiences. 
Week 2: We will practice reading like a detective by completing character analysis of the main characters in the novel. We will read chapters 8--16. We will also discuss different types of narrators and how having multiple narrrators impact the story. 
Week 3: We will discuss mystery novels as a genre including mood, tone, and tropes and the connections between mystery novels and neurodiversity. We will also read chapters 17-25. We will continue discussing genre by discussiong realistic and contemporary fiction and representation. 
Week 4: We will continue reading like a detective by using inference and foreshadowing to make predictions about the ending of the book. We will read chapters 26-32 and write a book review.