TODAY MY BRAIN IS A DINOSAUR

A boy learns to cope with his neurodivergence.

When the young narrator needs to be quiet, his brain is a roaring T. rex. When he needs to wash the dishes, his brain is a submarine diving into the depths of an imaginary ocean. Sometimes, even though he knows it’s wrong, his brain is a raging bull that scares his friends. And after all that, his brain is a hurricane of self-loathing as he wonders why he can’t just behave. Though attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder isn’t named in the text, many children with ADHD will see themselves reflected here. The authors validate the feeling of being overwhelmed by a brain you can’t control, while also encouraging young readers to use their neurodivergence to their advantage instead of trying to change who they are; the young boy channels his big emotions into constructive pursuits, such as standing up for those in need and researching things he’s passionate about. And when that becomes too hard, the authors advise kids to reach out to loved ones. Though this is a vital message, the writing unfortunately does not measure up. The rhyme scheme is frequently awkward, as are the phrasing and meter. The cartoonish art is at its best when depicting the boy’s thoughts whirling around him. The boy’s family is depicted with varying shades of brown.

Clumsy text conveys a crucial takeaway about neurodivergence.