All the Noise at Once

“What does it mean to be Black and autistic?”

Although Aiden utterly bombed the summer football team tryouts, a last-minute opening on the team at the start of the school year means he gets to finally play alongside his star quarterback brother, Brandon. However, not everyone is happy about the new addition - they whisper about Aiden’s autism and his over-stimulation meltdown during tryouts. When tensions boil over after the team’s first game, violence breaks out and the cops are called, leading to Brandon’s arrest for felony assault on an officer. As the trial date approaches, Aiden tries to find out what really happened that night, but will he be able to clear his brother’s name in time?

I absolutely loved this book - it deals with a lot of different issues (racism, ableism, societal expectations of athletes, brotherly relationships, to name a few), but it manages to balance all of that with well-rounded characters and clear writing. Aiden’s narrative voice was engaging to read and I appreciated how the author allowed her characters to be emotionally vulnerable with each other. Overall, this was a quick but meaningful read.