Local authors Taylor Crowe and Leah Ulrich unveil 'Maybe That's Autism'

Taylor Crowe and Leah Ulrich from Cape Girardeau have co-authored a children’s book about autism called “Maybe That’s Autism.”

“Maybe That’s Autism” is centered around the character Alex and his autistic behaviors from the point of view of his friend Conrad. Conrad wants to be Alex’s friend as well as understand the reason why Alex does certain things.

The book shows Alex and his “different” behaviors while in school to help the reader learn to connect and understand from both a teacher and classmate. Throughout the book, the phrase “maybe that’s autism” is repeated many times to help emphasize the importance of empathy and acceptance of those who have autism.

Crowe has autism and created the character of Alex in 2001. He said while Alex doesn’t look like him, he is based on his life from growing up in school as a young boy. Other characters in the book are also based on friends and drawn to the likeness of others.

Crowe and Ulrich met in 2001 after Ulrich was recommended to Crowe’s family for an art teacher. At the time, she was a Southeast Missouri State University student. Now over 20 years later, they are still friends and have been working together on this book collaboration.

Ulrich said in 2007, she had started to storyboard the idea of the book on a piece of paper with thought bubbles and ideas on the spread. Through the journey of creating the book, Crowe’s drawings changed and had to be reworked to make the book the same throughout.

“When we started working on the book, Taylor started illustrating and he’d come to me with drawings I’d be like, ‘yea or nay’ and, and that’s how we worked. So it’d be like, he comes to me. I’m like, ‘No, I don’t like that. Try it again’. You know, and, and we would do that several times. Then, even as we progressed, we would see that we had spots back at the beginning that we needed to redo and come up with a different idea so that it looked better for the rest of the book,” Ulrich said.

Publishing and coming out with the book at the start of April was important as April is Autism Acceptance Month.

Crowe said the thing about the book that is special to him is that it shows the reader how to be a friend to someone with autism.

Ulrich added that the book is a way to help understand the behaviors of someone with autism.

“It helps them understand what the behaviors might be with a kid that’s on the spectrum. I mean, this is one instance. The autism spectrum is very, very big. But Taylor’s main thing with the book is he wants people to know how to be friends with somebody who’s autistic. Because autistic people need people like us so that they can learn social skills. The book introduces them to someone who’s autistic and you don’t have to have special requirements to interact with them. You just interact with them like you would anybody else” Ulrich said.

After finishing the book, they hope it leaves a message about autism that lingers in the reader’s mind.

Their book “Maybe That’s Autism” is for sale and can be bought in three ways. A cash sale from the authors, online at Amazon or off Crowe’s website www.Taylorcrowe.com.

For those who would like to meet Crowe and Ulrich, there will be a book signing from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, at the Tailor Institute, 528 Helena St., Cape Girardeau.

Tickets for this event are $50 and include a signed copy of the book, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets can be bought the day of or on www.thetailorinstitute.org.