Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit
CW: Ableism, Sexism, Unresolved Bullying, Described Meltdown, Described Sensory Issues, Racism, ABA Therapy, Violence, Serious Injury, Anxiety, Stressful Situations, Internalized Ableism
5/5
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen was added to my TBR pile last year because the main character is autistic and the book is written by an autistic author, Sarah Kapit. The fact that it is also a Jewish book was a delightful bonus. This isn't the first middle-grade book about autism that I've read, but it's the first one that fits with the theme of my blog. I highly recommend the Can You See Me? duology by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott, but it isn't Jewish or queer. Kapit's book has a range of representation, including a gay character that is important in Vivy's life.
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen is about Vivy finally getting to realize her dream of playing baseball. She's an 11-year-old autistic girl with a love for the knuckleball pitch, but she has no games to play in. People constantly see being a girl and being autistic as reasons she can't play baseball. This starts to change when a local Little League coach sees her pitch to her brother. He wants her talent on his team, even if his son doesn't agree. While corresponding with her favorite MLB player, VJ Capello, over email, Vivy fights against her nerves, her bully, ABA therapy, her mother's benevolent ableism, and sexism to become the star pitcher she wants to be.
When I read books that feature older autistic characters, I find that their experiences are more in-line with my own, and that's not just because it's easier to remember more recent years. I wasn't diagnosed as autistic until I was an adult and out of college. Obviously, I was an autistic child once, but I didn't know it. I spent a lot of time accidentally masking, I wasn't receiving therapy for being autistic, and no one saw me through that lens. This isn't inherently good or bad, but it does mean that I lived a different childhood than characters like Vivy. I do see some of myself in Vivy, though. She has trouble with phone calls, struggles to say the right thing, is highly avoidant of confrontation, self-sabotages when reaching for what she wants, and has sensory input issues. Stories about autistic characters written by autistic people are so important, whether being read by an autistic audience or an allistic one.
I enjoy when books, especially middle-grade ones, have Judaism woven into the story without being about Judaism. I think it's more common in stories that are YA and up, as they expect the audience to know already what Judaism is. There are always going to be exceptions though, such as Holocaust memoirs. I don't need to read another book that seems like it didn't have a choice but to explain all the Jewish holidays and traditions to non-Jews. Vivy Cohen is just a girl that happens to be Jewish and practicing. Holidays come along as time passes and she explains a little bit to VJ, but it always flows. Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen was definitely written with a Jewish audience in mind.
Kapit does a wonderful job of telling this story through letters. This style of writing is called "epistolary". A majority of the story is told through the emails sent between Vivy and VJ, which can be limiting. An author needs to get creative with the limits they set. This book is about baseball, so action needs to be depicted in Vivy's play-by-plays, to the best of her memory. There are times when Vivy and Vj are taking a break from writing to each other, which could easily leave the audience out of the loop. I won't spoil what it is, but Kapit had a great solution for this. It's also interesting to see the characters' personalities come across in how they write. Epistolary books are some of my favorites!
You don't need to know much about baseball or autism to enjoy Kapit's Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen. If you're open to reading middle-grade, give this book a go. Vivy's waiting on the pitcher's mound for you!
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