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Autistic Characters in Middle Grade Horror and Fantasy Books
- Kristiana Sfirlea
- Oct 18, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Nov 26
(LAST UPDATED: 11/15/25)
Disclaimer: This list is a resource, not a personal endorsement of any particular book.
"Your special interest is cute and spooky things, isn't it?"
Truer words have never been spoken to me. I'm obsessed with all things scary and adorable. And I could explode with happiness when those things come together in books with characters who experience the world like I do: through autistic eyes.
So I decided to create this master list of middle grade books led by autistic characters in my favorite genres!
So without further ado, let's take a look at autistic characters in middle grade horror and fantasy books...
LEGEND OF THE STORM SNEEZER
Genre: Horror, fantasy, humor, time travel
Autistic Characters: Rose and Marek, main characters/protagonists
Author: Kristiana Sfirlea
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
It’s not every night your best friend helps commit you to an asylum.
But Rose Skylar is no stranger to unusual nights. The night she was born, she sneezed a mischievous storm cloud that’s followed her around ever since. (You can imagine the stares.)
Then there was the night her dad almost killed her. (Hard one to forget.)
And one night, Rose writes a letter to her future self that changes everything. (And I mean EVERYTHING.)
Marek, best friend in question, takes her to the legendary Heartstone Asylum. It’s a nightmare come true, and Rose loves it: the magical rooms, the ugly-cute gargoyle stalking her every move, the haunted forest whose trees have mysteriously turned to stone. But there is a dangerous secret at the heart of Heartstone, and when Rose and Marek find a suspicious cemetery on the grounds, they dig up a mystery that could be their own grave. (Sharing a grave is nonnegotiable. "Best friends forever" means scooch your butt over in that casket.)
Heartstone isn’t the only one with secrets. There is something in Rose’s past that only her future can fix, and saving Heartstone Asylum and everyone she loves could make her worst fear come true: being sent back to her dad.
A darkly whimsical tale of horror, humor, and healing.
THE GIRL IN THE WALLS
Genre: Horror, novel-in-verse
Autistic Character: V, main character/protagonist
Author: Meg Eden Kuyatt
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
After a hard school year, V has been sent to her Grandma Jojo's house for the summer in order to get away from it all. But unlike neurodivergent, artistic, sock-collecting V, Jojo is uptight, critical, and obsessed with her spotless house. She doesn't get V at all. V is sure she's doomed to have the worst summer ever.
Then V starts hearing noises from inside the walls of the house...
Knocks, the sounds of a girl crying, and voices echoing in the night.
When V finds a ghostly girl hiding in the walls, they seem to have an immediate connection. This might be V's chance to get back at her perfect grandmother by messing with her just a little bit.
But the buried secrets go much deeper -- and are much more dangerous -- than V even suspects. And they threaten to swallow her and her family whole if she can't find a way to uncover the truth of the girl before it's too late.
THE OJJA-WOJJA
Genre: Horror, mystery, graphic novel
Autistic Character: Val, main character/protagonist
Author: Magdalene Visaggio
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Illustrator: Jenn St-Onge
Synopsis:
Welcome to Bolingbroke. It's a small town just like any other . . . or so eighth graders Val and Lanie think. They’re the best of best friends—they love the same comics, they watch the same shows, and they’re always there for each other. Which is important when you’re queer, like Lanie, or on the spectrum, like Val, and just don’t seem to fit in anywhere.
When a school project about their hometown’s supernatural history leads to a for-real ghost sighting, Val and Lanie realize Bolingbroke might not be as boring as they’d always thought. But after a run-in with the resident middle school queen bee (who also happens to be Lanie’s former friend), they decide to take things to the next level . . . and accidentally summon the Ojja-Wojja, a demonic presence connected to a slew of mysterious tragedies throughout Bolingbroke’s sordid history.
Now all heck has broken loose. With the whole town acting weird and nowhere left to turn, it’s going to be up to Val, Lanie, and their small group of friends to return things to normal—if “normal” is even something they want to return to.
VIVI CONWAY AND THE SWORD OF LEGEND
Genre: Fantasy
Autistic Character: Vivi, main character/protagonist
Author: Lizzie Huxley-Jones
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
The lake has been calling to twelve-year-old Vivi Conway. On the day she and her Mams will move from Wales to London, she sneaks out to investigate what is calling her there. Instead of a quiet swim, she finds Excalibur (much smaller than she expected), a ferocious monster (much scarier in real life than in her mythology books), a new friend (which she doesn’t want at all) called Dara and a ghostly dog named Gelert (who can talk).
Gelert insists that Vivi is part of a magical group of children who share the souls of witches from legend and must protect the world from being taken over by the evil King Arawn of the Otherworld. Oh, and now she can magically control water. With a little extra help from spiky Stevie and sweet-hearted Chia, Vivi must come to terms with her magical destiny and be brave enough to embrace true friendship.
THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ALICE TONKS
Genre: Fantasy, mystery
Autistic Character: Alice, main character/protagonist
Author: Emily Kenny
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
Alice Tonks would love to make friends at boarding school. And, being autistic, she just wants people to accept her for who she is. But after a rather strange encounter with a talking seagull on her first day, she suddenly has a new challenge and a lot of questions. Animals are going missing and Alice can’t solve the mystery alone. With new friends behind her, can Alice harness her magic powers and become the hero she never imagined?
THE LONELY BELOW
Genre: Horror
Autistic Character: Eva, main character/protagonist
Author: G. Haron Davis
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
Eva doesn't love being the new girl at school, but she doesn't hate it either. Thanks to her mom's job, her family is used to moving around. But Blythe Academy isn't a normal school. The teachers are all strange and insular, like they're hiding something from the students . . . .
And of course, there are the ghosts. Eva's new friend Ami tells her the story -- Blythe Academy has always felt haunted, but fifty years ago part of the school collapsed, killing a classroom of students and their teacher. Things haven't been the same since.
To most students it's just a scary story. But it's not long until Eva is having her own terrifying run-ins with the ghosts, and they seem to be trying to communicate with her. Soon she's having unnerving visions that seem to predict another collapse. Add in suddenly having to move into the dorms and her classmates finding out she's autistic before she's ready to tell them and Eva is completely overwhelmed.
Eva wants to tell people about her suspicion -- she doesn't think the collapse was just a tragic accident. It was caused by a malevolent force, and that force is back and hungry for more. As time begins to run out, will Eva be able to discover the truth of Blythe Academy and save lives ...or will it be too late?
IZZY AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Genre: Dystopian (hey, it's horror-adjacent!)
Autistic Character: Izzy, main character/protagonist
Author: K.A. Reynolds
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
Ever since Izzy Wilder's mom died, she's wanted life to feel normal. She plays video games with her little sister, helps her grandparents around the house, and takes care of her best dog, Akka. But losing her mom is far from normal, and for Izzy, who is autistic, it feels like the end of the world.
When mysterious lights flash across the mountains outside Izzy's house one night, and suddenly everyone except her and Akka seem to have disappeared in an instant, Izzy is more alone than ever. But Izzy is a fighter and she won't lose anyone else in her family, even if it means battling terrifying gray, ugly monsters and decoding cryptic messages that seem a lot like her mom talking to her from beyond the grave.
NATURALLY NIC/K
Genre(s): Mystery, fantasy, time travel
Autistic Character: Nic, main character/protagonist
Author: Kathryn Rossati
Is the Author Autistic? Yes
Synopsis:
Nic loves to perform magic tricks, but after the girls at school made fun of her, she hid her passion, thinking she’d never be good enough.When Nic's class goes on a school trip to the Thames Tunnel to celebrate its famous Fancy Fair, she sees her two bullies vanish. Curious to find out what happened, she steps through a mysterious alcove and finds herself at the original Fancy Fair—over one hundred and fifty years in the past!
Meanwhile, Nikolai’s life isn’t going so well. Another magician has taken his dad’s spot to perform, and his brother, Amos, has gone missing. With rumours of kidnapped children spreading through town, Nikolai is worried. Then, out of nowhere, a mysterious girl appears, claiming she’s from the future—and says that two of her classmates have disappeared.
To solve the mystery, Nic and Nikolai must work together. But can a neurodivergent girl from the present, a magic-student failure, really help a boy who’s a master at designing tricks and picking locks? Nic isn’t so sure, but she knows she has to try!
Defanged
Genre(s): Horror, fantasy
Autistic Character: Lux, main character/protagonist
Author: H. E. Edgmon
Is the Author Autistic? No
Synopsis:
Lux Priddy is a regular 12-year-old: he goes to school, hangs out with his best friend, Emma, and loves to pet every dog he sees. Except for one little thing - Lux is a vampire. And even though vampires came out of the coffin and into the public eye before he was even born, not everyone is happy about it. So when a group called Vampirism Sucks develops a cure, most people are thrilled. Lux? Not so much.
Humans might think his life is miserable, but he’s never known anything else. And he doesn’t think he even wants to be human. After all, what makes being a human better than being a vampire? After an epic escape out the window of a Vampirism Sucks facility, Lux finds himself in a secret underground vampire city - one filled with "bad" vampires, the kind his parents have always warned him about. But even though he's been taught to fear them, the people of Nox Urbus are the only ones that seem to understand him. And when the so-called cure stops being optional, Lux is forced to make a choice: go back home and submit to the treatment, or stand up and fight a corrupt system for the right to be himself.
Do you have a middle grade fantasy or horror recommendation featuring an autistic character? Please drop me a note!
This list will continue to be updated as more books come out!
Kristiana Sfirlea is the author of The Stormwatch Tales, a darkly whimsical horror fantasy series for kids and teens. Legend of the Storm Sneezer is returning in 2026 to haunt bookshelves across the worlds!
Kristiana's dream is creating safe places for readers to explore their experiences through the power of storytelling. As a disabled, queer, autistic author of faith, Kristiana has found the safest place in their books. Their greatest joy is when readers do the same.
Follow Kristiana on Tumblr and Instagram at @KristianasQuill, on Facebook at @KristianasQuillbooks, and on their website www.KristianasQuill.com