A great introduction to autism for those who need more knowledge, and a great way for autistic readers to see themselves
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours, Janet Tashjian, and Jake Tashjian for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary book and media kit!
Book Information
Publishing Date: September 19, 2023
From the creators of the bestselling My Life series comes a colorfully illustrated mystery adventure about Hannah Sharpe, an observant young cartoonist on the autism spectrum and her cartoon alter ego in this colorfully illustrated adventure.
Young cartoonist Hannah Sharpe has many she’s curious, creative, has an amazing memory, and most important—she notices things. When Doug Williams moves into her family’s Airbnb, Hannah can’t shake the feeling that he’s got something to hide. But his girlfriend, Remy Furtado, couldn’t be nicer or more helpful. As Hannah investigates, often with her sketchbook in hand, she makes a series of unsettling discoveries involving stolen packages, changed keypad codes, and hidden stacks of cash. Can Hannah crack the case and unfold the mystery on her own?
Including full-color illustrations with panel art featuring Hannah and her cartoon alter ego, Dusty Pickle, here is a thoughtful and propulsive new book starring a neurodiverse protagonist.
Book Links
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75593491
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Sharpe-Cartoon-Detective-Tashjian/dp/0316319805/
- Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hannah-sharpe-cartoon-detective-janet-tashjian/1142902649
- IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/hannah-sharpe-cartoon-detective-janet-tashjian/19623206
About the Author
Janet Tashjian is a middle-grade and young adult novelist who’s been writing books for children for fifteen years. Her first novel Tru Confessions was made into a critically acclaimed Disney TV movie starring Clara Bryant and Shia LaBeouf. The Gospel According to Larry is a cult favorite and Fault Line is taught in many middle and high schools. Her novels My Life As a Book, My Life As a Stuntboy, and My Life As a Cartoonist are all illustrated by her teenage son, Jake. Their collaboration continues with Einstein the Class Hamster coming in August.
Janet lives with her family in Los Angeles, enjoying her respite from the long Boston winters. When she isn’t writing, she’s rewriting.
Janet has been doing school visits for fifteen years; you can email her at spatulaproductions@mac.com for details.
Author Links:
- Website: https://janettashjian.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetTashjian
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janettashjian/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/133890
Review (no spoilers)
If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to reading this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. To start off this review, let me first provide a bit of a disclaimer that I am not autistic, so I cannot speak on whether the representation in this book is accurate to that experience. The author is not on the spectrum herself, but she does have a son (the illustrator of the book) who is. Please defer to autistic readers when it comes to the representation of autism in this novel.
Hannah Sharpe: Cartoon Detective tells the story of a young autistic girl recounting her time at home, at school (in a specialized program for kids with sensory issues), and inside the world of her cartoon comic. Through Hannah’s story, readers are introduced to her problems dealing with change, physical touch, and socialization. There are little comic strips interspersed throughout the novel that provide a great visual representation of these topics, while also breaking up the prose into more digestible chunks.
As someone whose knowledge of how autism can present itself in children, this book taught me a lot. Not only do we get Hannah’s perspectives on how the world works, we also get views of how Hannah’s parents and peers experience the same events. While there is a mystery interwoven into the narrative, I wouldn’t call this book a mystery novel. The readers basically know exactly what is happening, and what is going to happen, very early on in the book. I think the true story was not about Hannah solving a mystery, but about her learning what it means to experience conflicting emotions, and what it means to let others in.
For me, the biggest issue with this novel was, ironically, with representation. While I thought this did a good job with having characters of varying neurodivergence, the ethnic diversity was lacking. All of the characters appeared to be white—with the exception of one side character, and two villains (one of which is a brown tree bark and not an actual human). The book ends with a teaser for more to come, so I would love to see this diversity improve with future installations.
Jenjenreviews 
One thought on “Blog Tour Review: Hannah Sharpe: Cartoon Detective by Janet Tashjian & Jake Tashjian”