My 10-year-old autistic son, Evan, and I wrote and illustrated children’s book together called I Wonder…A book to celebrate our differences. It embraces neurodiversity and how our differences make us special. Our book asks questions like, “Why am I different? And why do I need different things to learn and grow?” We answer these questions while making comparisons in nature: all trees are different, and all flowers need different things to grow.
Evan has always been my biggest source of inspiration; I was inspired to write this book because Evan asks me questions about his differences. The project came to life organically from this. We both love nature, so we combined these things in our book.
I came up with the rough idea for the book and consulted with Evan along the way. We decided together which parts of nature we wanted to include and brainstormed as a team what would look best. Each section includes my art posing the question and Evan’s art answering it. Evan’s writing can also be seen throughout the pages.
We hope this book opens a conversation between kids and their parents about embracing neurodiversity, and empowers kids to stand out and stand tall, inspired by their own differences.
In our household, we embrace and celebrate Evan’s differences on a daily basis; we want him to feel empowered by his differences, comfortable in his own skin, and to know that he doesn’t have to change who he is. If every person were the same, how boring would that be?
For our family, embracing neurodiversity means supporting Evan and his needs, and not trying to change him to fit into an imaginary norm. We have many conversations about how everyone is different, but also how everyone feels the same way; we all get scared, sad, mad, happy, and we all struggle sometimes, but it is through our differences that we really shine.
About Evan Boros and Lisa Lambertus Boros
Evan is an almost 11-year-old autistic boy who loves everything Roblox and Minecraft and has the greatest sense of humour. Lisa is his proud mom and has worked as an artist for approximately 20 years.
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