Claire LaZebnik

Claire LaZebnik's new young adult novel is Things I Should Have Known. The main character is a teenage girl with a sister on the autism spectrum.

From the author's Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: You've discussed your own experiences as a mother of a son on the autism spectrum. How much did your experiences influence your decision to write your new novel?

A: I have children who are outside the recognized norm in all sorts of ways—in addition to a son on the spectrum, I have a son who’s gay and a daughter who has a rare autoimmune disease and another son who’s uninterested in sports (and if you think that doesn’t count as being outside the norm, you haven’t hung out with a lot of teenage boys lately!).

All of this feeds into my quest to see more diversity in books, movies, and television, and much more acceptance of diversity in our society.

Since I have the luxury of being a novelist, I make it a goal in every book I write to include characters who, in some way, don’t conform to society’s expectations and who are wonderful, interesting, positive people. My first goal as a writer is to...[read on]

Visit Claire LaZebnik's website.

--Marshal Zeringue