BUTTON PUSHER

Page explores his childhood experiences with ADHD in this graphic memoir.

Young towheaded Tyler’s diagnosis of ADHD results in a prescription for Ritalin to help him behave, though it certainly doesn’t fix a dysfunctional family life marked by his father’s uncontrolled rage. In the 1980s and ’90s, when ADHD was poorly understood, recognition of Tyler’s neurodiversity is delayed because his schoolwork—when he completes it—is good. He struggles to keep friends and handle his anger, but the medication aids with focus. Despite his learning that Ritalin’s more likely to be associated with weight loss, Tyler blames his pubescent weight gain on both the drug and ADHD–fueled disordered eating, so the summer after 10th grade he stops taking it. Despite a two-sentence parenthetical that suddenly stopping Ritalin without consulting a doctor was unwise, adult-narrator Page clearly associates life changes he considers positive (growing taller, losing weight, becoming more social) with his self-prescribed medication change. The narrator describes the adult ADHD that will plague future Tyler, but the memoir closes with his happily leaving home after successfully graduating high school. Readers who pay more attention to Tyler’s story than to the interspersed scientific information and narrator’s asides will likely feel that self-treatment was the correct choice. Expressive cartoon-style art in bright, saturated colors and clear speech bubbles make this a visually enticing work.

An engaging memoir of one boy’s experience of growing up with ADHD with a risky message around medication cessation.