Cape Girardeau native hopes to spread disability awareness with children's book series

Autism has always made communication difficult for Cape Girardeau native Marissa New.

To mask her autism, New studied people and learned from their interactions. Growing up, she mimicked those around her to appear normal.

Now, New said she’s done trying to mask her autism, and she’s writing a children’s book series so other people can learn to embrace themselves, too.

The series, called “The Adventures of Chipper the Chipmunk,” follows the life of its main character, Chipper, a goofy, fun-loving chipmunk with autism.

“My goal is to create awareness and acceptance for those with disabilities of any kind so they can embrace themselves, because whenever I was little, I thought I had to hide who I was,” New said.

Writer Marissa New poses for a portrait at Peace Park in Cape Girardeau. New aims to spread awareness and acceptance for autism and other disabilities in her book series, "The Adventures of Chipper the Chipmunk."MONICA OBRADOVIC ~ SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN

New, 24, based the series off of events that happened in her life.

“Growing up was really, really hard for me,” New said. “I was bullied a lot. I had to learn how to mask my symptoms so I could match society’s expectations of normal.”

Each book in the series will highlight a different disability. Chipper will learn from friends with different disabilities, including one who lost their leg to cancer, and another with dyslexia.

In the first book, Chipper has no friends and struggles to communicate with the characters around him. He gets upset when things change or when something disrupts his routine.

As the series goes on, Chipper learns how to communicate, make new friends and cope with changes. Each book will have its own unique name, the first is “Chipper the Chipmunk: Who Wasn’t so Chipper.”

New worked with artists Maria Gomez and Amy Beemsterboer to illustrate the first book.

Beemsterboer is also on the autism spectrum. She and New first connected on an online platform for freelancers as New looked for someone to illustrate the series.

The writer’s mission to help kids with special needs and disabilities attracted her to the work.

“I think it’s really important for kids [on the autism spectrum] to know they’re not the only ones,” Beemsterboer said.

New wished she had books like her series to read when she was a child so she could have something to tell her she was OK.

“I definitely think there’s a need for these books out there,” New said. “There just isn’t acceptance in the world, you know, and I want to create that acceptance.”

New’s knowledge of autism comes from more than just her first-hand experience.

In 2018, she graduated magna cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in child development.

After she graduated college, New worked as a registered behavior technician at Southeast’s autism center. She is currently an office assistant at Habitat for Humanity.

“The Adventures of Chipper the Chipmunk” has not been published. The first installment of the series has been written, but it’s still being illustrated.

To cover publishing and illustration costs, New created a Kickstarter campaign. She said she’s not sure whether the book will be published through an agency or if she will self-publish.

For updates, see “The Adventures of Chipper the Chipmunk’s” Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pg/ChippertheChipmunk/posts/?ref=page_internal.