By Alyson Gerber
A seventh-grader who can't figure out why school keeps falling apart on her, until a diagnosis finally explains her ADHD.
Clea tries so hard. She makes the lists, she means to do the work, but her thoughts scatter and the tests come back wrong and she blurts things she wishes she hadn't. The one place her mind goes quiet is the chess board, and now even her spot on the team is in danger. When she finally gets tested and learns she has ADHD, it doesn't fix everything, but for the first time it gives her a name for what's been happening, and a way to work with her own brain instead of against it.
This is the most reassuring book on the shelf and the best one for a child who's ADHD, or wondering if they are, and feels like they're just not trying hard enough. Alyson Gerber has ADHD herself, and she writes Clea's frustration and self-blame from the inside, then walks her, gently and realistically, toward strategies and support that actually help. It's the book that says: this is a real thing, it has a name, and you are not lazy or bad.