by Camille Stewart, MA, SLP (speech-language pathologist); NWACS board member

reading time: 3 minutes

The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of NWACS. No endorsement by NWACS is implied regarding any device, manufacturer, resource, or strategy mentioned.

Let’s dive into a quick overview of a book featuring AAC:

Book Title: The Year of the Buttered Cat: A Mostly True Story

Author: Lexi Haas and Susan Haas

Published in 2021 (originally)

Age Range: 8 years+

Book Type: middle-grade (and up!) memoir

How AAC is Featured: Lexi, the main character and narrator, is an amazing multimodal communicator! She verbalizes “ggguuuhhh” for “no”, sticks her tongue out for “yes”, uses her whole body for gesturing, and uses a cookie tray with magnetic alphabet tiles to spell her communication from a very young age. She tries out various forms of high tech AAC devices but due to technology limitations of the era, combined with her complex body, they are frustrating to use initially. Eventually, she lands on an eye gaze device. With technological advances, motor improvements, and time with the device, it becomes another communication tool, helping her become the author she is today. I particularly loved the honesty from Lexi about her high tech AAC journey, as it wasn't easy. It took time and patience. And most importantly, the people around her who encouraged her and believed in her and made it fun even when it was hard. I think we could all learn from Lexi and give our AAC devices personal names like “haha” because she used it to make the people around her laugh.

The Year of the Buttered Cat is a true story told by Lexi (and co-authored with her mother) that retells her 5-6-year-old and 13-year-old experiences navigating life, including two big life-changing surgeries. We learn she has a complex body which impacts her ability to move and talk like the other people around her. At first, her parents tell her “you’ll catch up!” Her constant internal refrain is “when is my body going to come in?” and “when is my voice going to come in?” She has so many moments where the reader can feel the frustration of not having a way to communicate that doesn't rely on others. For example, when her friends ask about her summer and her mom leaves out all the fun parts when sharing for her. It leaves her questioning, “why bother making friends here when no one understands me?” Eventually, Lexi and her family stop wondering if she'll be normal and start recognizing the many gifts she has. Her dad says, “maybe we could both focus less on what was taken, and more on what was left, because it's pretty awesome.”

This book is a great choice for anyone. I think it would be so fun to have on the reading list in middle school and high school classrooms. But anyone can enjoy it if you like witty humor, mysteries, and fun-loving characters.

Wait—why is it called The Year of the Buttered Cat? Great question, you'll have to read it to find out!

One note: I chose this book because I get most of my books from the library. Unfortunately, this was one of the few books on the list created by our team that is available from the Seattle Public Library. I encourage anyone else who wants more books featuring AAC available for all through public library systems to put in requests at your own local libraries. I know I will be!

Here are a couple of links to submit requests:

Seattle Public library https://www.spl.org/books-and-media/suggest-a-title
King County library https://kcls.org/news/the-way-you-can-request-items-changes-on-march-10/

Have you read this book? What did you think?