Benny Doesn't Like to Be Hugged

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At the center of this story are two African American students of Primary Grade age. The book is narrated by the female character who, with rhyming cadence, describes her best friend Benny. Benny has many traits that students will identify with, and others that may seem more unusual to a neurotypical student. This is because, although never explicitly stated in the book, Benny is a person with autism. In the Author's Note, Elliott states that although she herself does not have autism, nor is she an expert, she was inspired by friends who were raising Black boys with autism, "in a society set on disciplining Black boys."

I found Elliott's choice not to explicitly name Benny's autism gave the character more power. The book is more about one little boy's personality and characteristics than about "being autistic." In the classroom, the book could be used to educate students about autism, but I believe it would be better used to springboard into a discussion about diversity and neurodiversity in a wider way. Benny sometimes cries when the music room gets too loud, I would say to my First and Second grade students; does anybody else ever feel this way? In so many ways, the absence of the "autistic" label in the text is more realistic to a child's perception and experience of having a friend with autism.

The illustrations by Purple Wong are bright, engaging and ensure that a wide range of people are mirrored in this text. Surrounding Benny and his best friend, we see intentional representations of diversity in the different characters, including a young girl wearing a hijab, a wheelchair user, a boy wearing a shirt with a Native American superhero logo, a boy wearing a turban, an Asian girl wearing headphones to help with sensory overstimulation, a Black father ironing, a gender nonconforming student, and the list goes on...Elliott and Wong have very intentionally sought to counter the homogeneous images that persist in so many children's books.

Benny Doesn't Like to Be Hugged would be ideal for the preK-2nd Grade classroom. The text could be used as a read aloud or a Guided Reading text for a group of emergent readers.  

Benny Doesn’t Like to Be Hugged (2017)

By Zetta Elliot

Illustrated by Purple Wong

Published by Rosetta Press

https://www.zettaelliott.com/books/kids/