The Asparagus Bunch offers an unfiltered insight into the world of Leon, the protagonist who is autistic. The narrative style is upbeat, funny and lively while not holding back on the difficulties he faces with so many seemingly simple everyday occurrences. At times it was painful to read as Leon’s difficulties and struggles are so pronounced. His poor social skills lead to many challenging situations for him and those around him and it was sometimes hard to read him having to navigate such things. I was interested to see where the story would go but was a little disappointed by the ending as things didn’t wrap up as cleanly as I would have liked.

I enjoyed this book but definitely wouldn’t say it was suitable for a primary audience due to the swearing and some of the themes. I’m guessing this wasn’t Scott-Whyte’s intended audience anyway as the book is perfectly pitched for secondary school pupils. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What a powerful insight into the world of someone with Autism. This book doesn't hold back; it shows us Leon's character in full glory - from his acerbic comments and his tendency to annoy, offend or upset those closest to him, to his unwavering passion for all things confectionary and his loyalty to his new friends. Leon has been moved on from several schools, so he holds out no hope for his latest one. Yet he soon discovers two new classmates, each with their own issues to deal with, and for the first time in his life, Leon finds that he has friends. All seems to be finally working out well for him... that is, until he finds out that his mum has a boyfriend and everything that felt good and safe is suddenly derailed. A wonderful read!

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It was well written and covered the topic of autism spectrum disorders very sensitively but also in a way that makes it easy for people to understand how thought processes work when you are on the spectrum.

This book is one of my funniest yet most enlightening reads of 2022 so far. I can’t put into words how much I loved reading about the life of Leon Crothers, and how he comes to terms with this Asperger’s diagnosis (or in this book, ass-burger or asparagus diagnosis) with the help of his delightful and unique friends and supportive mother. This book was also quite educational as it gave a look into the mind of a child with Asperger’s, and although each person with it differs it was still highly educational. As well as all of that, I found myself genuinely laughing out loud on multiple occasions, something that for me rarely happens! Tanya and Lawrence (Leon’s friends) and even his doctor really help him through his diagnosis and other events which change the course of his life, and together they form the asparagus bunch. There is so much representation in this book, with Leon obviously being newly diagnosed with Asperger’s and Lawrence also has Asperger’s. Tanya is a black dyslexic girl which leads me onto the one fault I did have with this book- Leon does make some pretty racially ignorant comments about Tanya’s hair, which in my opinion as a black girl were brushed over a bit too quickly. If I was the subject of those comments from anyone I wouldn’t change the subject and brush over the comments I would say something about it which in this book did not happen, so i would have liked to see a bit of character building on that front because younger readers may interpret those comments as jokes that are acceptable to make. Other than that though, I love love love how quintessentially british this book is, It’s such a nice feeling to read a reference to a curly-whirly or a fruit pastille and actually know what is being talked about! This book does deal with some sensitive topics like bullying, prejudice and (minor) violence I would say it’s a 12+. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and educational and I’m so incredibly glad I had a read!