Book Review: Hi It's Me! I Have ADHD
Instagram, you run across all sorts of ADHD accounts. One of the ones I have loved coming across is @beyond_the_ADHD_diagnosis, the Instagram account of author Katelyn Mabry. I decided to buy her book, Hi It’s Me! I Have ADHD, and read it, even though it is a children’s book and I have no children. I gave it a read and would like to share my thoughts about it with you, dear reader.
Mabry Gets ADHD
The first thing I will say about the book is it is clear Mabry understands the ADHD experience. It is filled with so many aspects of ADHD to which those of us with ADHD can relate. She discusses emotional dysregulation, cognitive hyperactivity, cognitive hypoactivity, sleep struggles, feeling misunderstood, memory issues, disorganization, fidgeting, and more. In this short children’s book, Mabry is able to get across many different aspects of ADHD. She truly understands the ADHD experience and so concisely captures it in this book.
Easy to Read and Understand
This short book is easy for kids to read. The reader is not bogged down by technical jargon that would not mean anything to the average child. It is, instead, written in a clear manner that any child can understand. Mabry does an excellent job describing the complicated ADHD experience in a manner that kids can understand.
Balance
One thing Mabry does well in her book is presenting the struggles and positive aspects of ADHD. No one can read the description of ADHD in this book and say it is a positive or negative experience. It just is. That is in line with my thinking. ADHD is neither a gift nor a curse. Mabry does an excellent job of bringing that balanced perspective to her book.
The Illustrations
The illustrator, J. Charles Friedel, crafts unique pictures of Mabry’s words. It is clear that he, too, understands the ADHD experience. There is a sense of fittingness to the illustrations. It is hard to put it into words. In short, he takes the author’s way of describing ADHD and gives it life. The pictures have just enough real-life and abstractedness to them. It is a visual masterpiece.
