It’s Me, Henry!

Henry marches to the beat of his own green thumb in this gentle picture book about a boy on the autism spectrum.

Henry doesn’t remember to raise his hand and he prefers to call plants by their proper Latin names, much to the frustration of his classmates. Most days, Henry doesn’t notice how different he is from the other kids in his grade, but some days he does. On those days he finds refuge under the shade of the Salix babylonica (willow tree) or in the school counselor’s office or at his very favorite place in the world: the local botanical gardens. When his class goes on a field trip to these botanical gardens, Henry’s knowledge of the flora and fauna shows the other kids that his unique interests are really something special.

Stéphanie Deslauriers is a psychoeducator and the author of fifteen books who has written extensively for Format familial on Télé-Québec. Stéphanie is the stepmother to a teenage son who has autism spectrum disorder and she speaks about their experiences and the disorder. Her book, Laurent, c’est moi!, was nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award and the Harry Black Youth Award. Stéphanie lives in Île-Perrot, Quebec.

Geneviève Després completed a degree in industrial design at the Université de Montréal but decided instead to pursue her passion for drawing. After spending a few years in Europe exploring different techniques, Geneviève returned to Quebec. Since then, she has illustrated over 30 picture books, many of which have been translated into other languages. Geneviève uses a variety of techniques in her art and plays with texture and the transparency of different mediums to create unique images. She lives with her family in Saint-Lambert on the south shore of Montreal.

Charles Simard is a Québécois editor and translator from Tiohtià꞉ke / Montréal. He works as poetry, fiction, and nonfiction editor for Talonbooks in Vancouver on Coast Salish Territory. His published work includes the essay Littérature, analyse et forme: Herbert, Tolkien, Borges, Eco (EUE, 2010) and a number of translations for Orca Book Publishers, including Elise Gravel’s The Wrench and Myriam Daguzan Bernier’s dictionary of sexuality, Naked!. As a lexicographer, he has collaborated on the making of the popular linguistic suite Antidote in its bilingual editions. He holds a PhD in literature from Université de Montréal and was a postdoctoral fellow at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.