Kimberly’s Way with Words - a Diverse Children's Book Review

Kimberly’s Way with Words was written by Connie Colwell Miller and Illustrated by Helena Perez Garcia. There are two different publishers. One publisher is the Creative Company. This version was published on January 14, 2025. The other publisher is Amicus Learning, which was published January 1, 2025.

The book explores different ways of communicating, covering a sweet story about a non-speaking Autistic girl named Kimberly who is getting groceries with her mom. In the book, Kimberly attempts to communicate with her favorite cashier in American Sign Language. He does not understand so Kimberly’s mom gives her an AAC, which stands for an Augmentative and Alternative Communication device. This device looks like an iPad and uses buttons to speak words out loud. Kimberly presses the buttons to communicate with the cashier and eventually resolves a conflict she has with the flavor of lollipop he gave her.

In terms of representation, this is a great book to show multiple forms of communication to children. It is also a lovely book that features kindness toward disabled people, which is not always common when a person tries to communicate alternatively. I could see this book being used in the classroom setting to explain nonverbal communication and other languages, alongside Autism and communicative devices.