This is a book for teenagers, inspired by the author's own childhood growing up in Canada, coping with family addiction and growing up being neurodivergent.

It's won numerous prizes including the Times/Chicken House competition in 2024.

The story follows Elias, an autistic 14-year-old growing up in snowy Nova Scotia in the 1990s. He likes telling jokes (and some of them are quite good!) and is preoccupied with entering his school's talent competition. The prize for the winner is a family dinner at the local pizza place.

As his family seems to be falling apart, with his father overwhelmed with work and his brother getting involved in drugs, Elias thinks that a family dinner out could be just what's needed to bring them all together again. 

This is an entertaining read despite some serious and troubling events for the family touching on mental health, autism, tourettes, drug abuse, family breakdown. There is some occasional bad language (which I felt wasn't entirely necessary), but a good read and Elias was a great character.