Next Level

Told from the loving perspective of a mother of a child with autism, Next Level shows the full humanity of people who move through the world and communicate in their own unique, complete, and powerful way. Doyon's powerful love letter to her son invites us to "level up" and see our shared humanity in new and limitless dimensions.

Samara Cole Doyon is a poet, educator, and award-winning children's book author living on unceded Wabanaki/Abenaki territory. She is a neurodivergent mother of neurodivergent children, continually learning more from her offspring than they could ever learn from her. She earned both a Lupine Award and an International Literacy Association Award for her debut picture book, Magnificent Homespun Brown, and her second children's book, Magic Like That, received a starred review from Kirkus and made the Bookstagang Best Picture Books of 2021 list. Samara works at Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and resides with her husband, two children, and rescue pup in central Maine.