HAL’S BOOKS, OUR STORY

By Jane Hawkes

THE TRUTH IS, WE NEVER INTENDED TO WRITE A BOOK, LET ALONE TWO! IT KIND OF CAME ABOUT BY ACCIDENT, BUT BOY, AM I GLAD THAT WE DID. OUR BOOKS HAVE TOUCHED SO MANY PEOPLE, AND WILL AND I CONTINUE TO REACH OUT TO SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO TELL THE STORY OF HOW WE OVERCAME SO MUCH TO PUBLISH OUR BOOKS.

The opportunity came quite by chance when I met children’s author Jude Lennon at a business networking event. I told Jude about my son Will, who was 16 at the time, and how he was diagnosed with autism at a young age. He was attending a special school and constantly anxious about what he was going to do when he graduated.

After chatting for a while, half-jokingly I said to Jude, “We should write a book.” I didn’t expect an established children’s author such as Jude to take me seriously, but two weeks later, Jude called, and a meeting was set up to discuss the project further. Will first entered the special needs system at age two when he struggled to speak. He went on to attend a pre-school with additional support and then a mainstream primary school, again with teaching assistant support. He was diagnosed with autism at age six and later also diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. All throughout his primary and secondary education, Will continued to receive speech and language therapy to develop his speech and communication skills. Now, as a 19-year-old young man, it is hard to tell he ever had any issues with his speech at all.

Because of his dyslexia, Will struggled to read. The books he had access to at school for his reading age were childish,

which made him struggle with finding the motivation to read. When the opportunity arose to create his very own book, Will thought back to this time and thought how wonderful it would have been to have a book such as this to read: a book with a main character he could relate to, a dyslexia-friendly font, and short accessible chapters.

Now he had the opportunity to create one and help others who feel as he did.

“There were no books with heroes or lead characters that were like me,” said Will. “This made it really difficult for me to relate and identify with characters in books. For a long time, I’ve wanted to address this issue and publish my own book which will help other children with autism feel more included.”

After a short period of time, an initial meeting with Jude was planned. Will had developed a plot, characters, and a story to tell Jude for his first book. Jude went away and wove the initial ideas from Will into a chapter book suitable for children aged nine to 12 years old.

The first book, Hal and the End Street, focuses on the main character, an autistic teenager named Hal. Through Hal, Will was able to convey all the anxieties he feels about his everyday life, such as disliking strangers in the house, loud noises, or unexpected changes in routine. He was able to show how he copes with these feelings and share the strategies he has in place to reduce his anxiety.

He described his anxiety as a bubble that starts in his stomach and just gets bigger and bigger. If he does not put in place the strategies he has developed, the anxiety gets so big it becomes overwhelming. Cleverly, the books have two outcomes to choose from at the end of each chapter. The reader can decide to end the chapter by reading version A or B. Ending A doesn’t have such a good outcome for Hal, but with ending B, Hal puts into practice the strategies he has learned, and his day has a much more positive outcome. Once the book was written, Will was tasked with illustrating the book. He had to decide where the pictures would go in the story and what they should be. Being autistic, Will felt he knew just what Hal should look like. The book is set in the 1970s, and Will enjoyed researching the fashions and trends of the time. However, during this time, Will struggled with his confidence. He felt his drawings were not good enough and that nobody would like the book. It took encouragement from everyone around him every day for him to begin to believe in himself.

Once the book had been edited, and the designers had put together all the pictures and text, it was finally time for Will to see his book in print. The next part of the journey was promoting and talking about the book. Still just 16, Will was at first very apprehensive about speaking about what he had achieved. Two book launch events were held. Slowly, Will’s confidence grew, and his anxiety subsided.

The second book, Hal and the Parties, was published a year later and continues the story of Hal, but now it’s 1977, and Hal celebrates his 16th birthday.

Will was much more confident about the process of illustrating his second book, having had the experience of illustrating and publishing the first one. It had been a huge success, becoming an Amazon #1 Best Seller with great reviews, so some of Will’s anxieties had been dispelled and reduced.

Will is now 19 and studying Level Three Art and Design at a local college. He has ambitions to go to university to study graphic design.

Having autism shouldn’t stop anyone from fulfilling their ambitions and reaching for the stars. Will uses his neurodiversity as an advantage to fuel his creativity and imagination. We are incredibly proud of what he has achieved.

Jane Hawkes has worked as an autism advocate for many years. In 2017 she embarked on an enterprise with her 16-year-old autistic son Will and children’s author Jude Lennon to publish children’s books with an autistic protagonist. Jane continues to advocate for autism. She makes presentations to schools about their inspiring journey to become book publishers and their “Awesome About Autism” assemblies. Hal and the End Street: www.amazon.com/Hal-Street-Awesome-About-Autism Hal and the Parties: www.amazon.com