A review by nssutton
Focused by Alyson Gerber

5.0

A great #ownstory about a girl learning she has ADHD as a middle schooler, which is a book I wish I had in our collection several years ago, before a string of our graduates went through this experience. A little didactic at times, but Gerber puts in the work to try and take you through the main character's experience of learning about her new diagnosis rather than making it feel like she's explicitly telling the reader everything they should know about ADHD herself. Invaluable for students as a window/mirror and a great read for chess lovers, though the (minor) relationship storyline butts against my quickly crumbling rule about romance in the elementary school library. I'll be bringing it to the librarian round table this fall share. Sidebar: was anyone super frustrated at how much energy she put into Red's problems? I guess I was the same at that age, but a parent, I think I would have tried to nip some of that in the bud.