White Noise

I'm still working my way through the 2025 CBCA Young Adult Notables list -- only a couple of books to go, but I'm still finding gems that didn't quite make it to the final round. Raelke Grimmer's White Noise is really good. It's rare to find a novel set in Darwin (the closest I've been to Darwin is applying for a job there -- I can't imagine how different my life would have been if I'd actually got it!) and White Noise is very evocative of the tropics, with lightning storms, oppressive heat and humidity, and outdoor markets. In other ways, Emma's life is utterly relatable, with friendship difficulties, a possible new boyfriend and navigating grief for her dead mother.

But what really sets White Noise apart is that it's a first person autism story. Emma has meltdowns where she completely shuts down; she forgets to eat; she misreads some social signals; she finds noisy, crowded environments difficult; she doesn't register pain well. All these things directly affect her daily life, and I don't know that I've seen such a realistic, empathetic portrayal of life with autism in YA fiction. It definitely helped me to understand what it might be like to live with autism from day to day.

I loved the portrayal of Emma and Summer's friendship, which hits some bumps in Year 10, and also Em's relationship with her father, who is still dealing with his own unresolved grief. At the end of the book, not everything is tied up neatly, which I also appreciated. White Noise is great, especially for a debut, and I'm interested to see what Grimmer does next.