Anything But Typical

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Third grade (Chapter 1)

2. Seven (Chapter 2)

3. A random word (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Jeremy is afraid of bananas, wearing sandals, and having his food touch on his plate. Jason and Jeremy’s parents think that Jeremy learned these strange behaviors from Jason. (Chapter 4)

2. Jason is fixated on letters in part because he is autistic and tends to become obsessed with or fixated on certain subjects. He is also obsessed with mastering letters and written language because that is the only way he is able to express himself, since he is otherwise non-verbal. Without his writing, Jason is voiceless. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. Disneyland (Chapter 6)

2. Suzy (Chapter 7)

3. Her grades (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. He does not like Mrs. Hawthorne, and there is a mean boy named Eric Doyle in the class. The room itself is also very loud and noisy. (Chapter 9)

2. Jason defines an unreliable narrator as someone who can be “telling the truth” or “just the truth as they see it.” Jason saying that he’s an unreliable narrator in the re-telling of the incident in Mrs. Hawthorne’s art class implies that Jason may have done something that he does not want to admit to. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. Construction worker (Chapter 11)

2. Phoenix (Chapter 12)

3. Snowflakes (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. Jason finds it easier to be around his father because his father talks less than his mother. Also, Jason’s father seems to “want less” from Jason. (Chapter 13)

2. Jason thinks his mom’s fixation on Jeremy’s food quirk is really a reaction to Jason’s own sensory issues because of his ASD. Jason’s mother wants Jason/Jeremy to realize that not everyone in the world will be able to accommodate him. (Chapter 15)

Chapters 16-20

Reading Check

1. Lexicon (Chapter 16)

2. Lester (Chapter 17)

3. Dallas (Chapter 18)

Short Answer

1. Jason is nervous about revealing himself to Rebecca outside the confines of their online relationship. He has not told her that he has ASD, and he does not want to be rejected by her. (Chapter 19)

2. Jason has an incredible ability to empathize with others. He chooses Lester because, like Jason, Lester is overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of his environment, so Jason feels a kinship with him. (Chapters 16-20)

Chapters 21-25

Reading Check

1. He thinks Jason won a creative writing competition. (Chapter 21)

2. Bugs (Chapter 22)

3. A toy truck (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Jason fantasizes that, when he meets Rebecca, she has a large birthmark across her face. This fantasy is pleasurable to him because he hopes that she has a trait that makes her different from most people, just like him. (Chapter 24)

2. Jason and his mother are briefly separated, and Jason becomes overwhelmed immediately. What’s more, he wonders how he will cope with life as an adult if he can’t manage being alone even for brief periods of time. (Chapter 25)

Chapters 26-32

Reading Check

1. Captain Jack Sparrow (Chapter 26)

2. Sweet (Chapter 27)

3. To avoid making people sad (Chapter 28)

4. She pretends to be tying her shoe. (Chapter 29)

5. Baseball (Chapter 30)

Short Answer

1. He realizes that we will never really see ourselves the way the rest of the world sees us. (Chapter 31)

2. Bennu wakes up on the morning of his surgery and heads to his doctor’s office. He tells his doctor that he changed his mind and he no longer wants the surgery that will elongate his legs. He has accepted who he is. (Chapter 32)