Sharing the Spotlight: A Christmas Story about Autism Acceptance

by D.G. Driver

When Heidi's sixth grade Christmas play winds up on the same night as her older autistic brother's high school choir concert, how will the family get through the crazy night? Based on characters from the award-winning children's novel No One Needed to Know, this is a short, funny story for kids 8-12 about sibling rivalry and Christmas spirit.

56 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2020

About the author

D. G. Driver is an optimist at heart, and that's why she likes to write books about young people who strive to make a difference in the world. From her teen environmentalist in The Juniper Sawfeather Trilogy, a young girl teaching her friends autism acceptance and to stop bullying people with special needs in No One Needed to Know, a girl who bravely searches for a friend lost along the shore of a dark lake in Lost on the Water - A Ghost Story, a princess who desires to be more than a pampered prize for a prince in The Royal Deal, to a boy who learns that being genuine and chivalrous are the ways to win a girl's heart in All the Love You Write, Driver hopes to write characters that you'll want to root for.

When she's not writing, she is a teacher in an inclusive child development center in Nashville, and she can often be found strutting the stage in a local musical theater production.

Reviews

[D.G. Driver]

Three years ago my middle grade novel No One Needed to Know won the silver medal for preteen fiction in the Children's Literary Classics book competition. Another award-recipient approached me about writing a short story based on my characters for a Christmas-themed anthology called Winter Wonder (still in print). I decided this year to revise the story and put it in chapter book form to be sold separately from the anthology.

The characters of Heidi and Donald are based on my childhood relationship with my older autistic brother. He was in the high school choir, and, being that I'm a performer, I've rarely had a December where I wasn't in some kind of holiday show. Thankfully, my brother and I never had shows on the same night. As a parent, however, we did have a crazy night a few years back when my daughter had her 6th grade Christmas play on the same night as my stepdaughter's high school senior winter choir concert. I used that experience as the premise for this story. I hope you will enjoy this fun family story. It would make a good read-aloud and is perfect for kids 8-13. All the best to you!