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Discovering ADHD in Literature

Discovering ADHD in Literature2010-04-14T14:09:26+00:00

The Forums Forums For The Non-ADD Other Discovering ADHD in Literature

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  • #88353

    ChrisC
    Member
    Post count: 1

    Last night during our bedtime routine, my daughter asked me to read her a book entitled “Time for School, Mouse”. Its a cute little children’s book by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond (of “If you give a mouse a cookie” fame). It follows a mouse as he searches for his homework while getting ready for school and finds one distraction after another. I’m not sure that the intent of the book has anything to do with ADHD, but it sure reminded me of our daily efforts to help get my son (who has ADHD) get ready for school.

    I know there are other books out there that deal specifically with the challenges of ADHD, but it was fun discovering something by chance. If you have come across something like this, please share!

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    #93613

    veronica
    Member
    Post count: 121

    i’m DEFinitely going to have to check that book out at the library. my 6 yr old and i were just talking about this very subject of homework being lost this morning. fun!

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    #93614

    purlgurl
    Member
    Post count: 44

    The “Jillian Jiggs” stories by (Canadian author) Phoebe Gilman – now available in convenient treasury edition: http://www.amazon.ca/Treasury-Jillian-Jiggs-Phoebe-Gilman/dp/0545993164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271301232&sr=8-1

    In my experience, both girls and boys *love* these stories (about the 3-7 age range). And Jillian is seriously the poster girl for ADHD. She’s disorganized, and she loses things, and gives her mom prematurely grey hair, and she’s extraordinarily kind and creative, and a wonderful big sister and friend.

    From the first book, “Jillian Jiggs”:

    “Jillian, Jillian, Jillian Jiggs! It looks like your room has been lived in by pigs!”

    “Later. I promise. As soon as I’m through, I’ll clean up my room. I promise. I do.”

    ….

    They started to clean up her room, it is true. They started to clean, but before they were through…

    Jillian thought up a game that was new. They had to stop cleaning. What else could they do?

    “Let’s dress up as pirates. Tie sails to the bed. Heave ho, you landlubbers! Full speed ahead!”

    They dressed up as dragons. They dressed up as trees. They dressed up as bad guys who never say please.

    ….

    Whenever they thought that was it, they were through…

    She’d change all their costumes and start something new.

    ….

    From the fifth book, “Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow”:

    (Jillian has lost her scarf, mittens, and now hat, making Snow Martians with her friends)

    It was then that her hat disappeared off her head. “Oh no! Not again,” poor Jillian said.

    “You’re in big trouble. When your mom finds out, she’ll fall down and faint, then she’ll wake up and shout:

    Jillian, Jillian, say it’s not true! How do you lose all the things that you do?”

    They climbed up the hill and they searched with great care. They shook every bush, but the hat wasn’t there.

    At last they gave up. They admitted defeat. Besides, they were hungry. They needed to eat.

    Jillian worried, “My mom will be mad. How does it happen? I’m not REALLY bad.”

    ….

    (How many of us have asked ourselves some variation of that question? And Jillian’s extremely patient mom does not blow her stack. :)

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    #93615

    Monika
    Member
    Post count: 82

    If you have children (7-13) then turn them on to Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Percy has ADD because he is a demi-god, those rapid fire thoughts and fidgeting (quick reflexes) are an asset, which is refreshing to me. Unleashing the superhero side of ADD, :)

    And, as is true in most cases, the books are better than the movie, “The Lightning Thief”

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    #93616

    Patte Rosebank
    Participant
    Post count: 1517

    As I’ve posted elsewhere, Yvan (one of the characters in the play, “ART”, by Yasmina Reza) is a poster child for ADHD.

    The play is now pretty much a modern classic, has been translated into 35 languages, and is studied in schools. You can get the script on Amazon, in both the English translation (by Christopher Hampton) or the original French. I’ve ordered the English one, and I think my aunt & uncle (who speak fluent Parisian French) have ordered the French. I’d like to compare the versions. There are so many lines that are wonderful in English, but would be even better as mottoes in French.

    An example: “The older I get, the more offensive I hope to become.”

    I’m not sure why, but I love that line. And it’s the perfect response when you belch during dinner, and your dad says, “That’s disgusting! You’re 41 years old.”

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    #93617

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    Thank you Chris! I love this topic!

    Have you ever sat down and read a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, or better yet, one of the anthologies? Calvin was my hero when I was a kid, and now that I’m parenting a little Calvin of my own, I’m even more convinced that Bill Watterson knew ADHD on a very intimate level.

    I also just finished reading Anne Of Green Gables and some of the Tom Sawyer classics, and if those characters aren’t blessed with ADD, I’ll eat my hat. What struck me as most interesting, is that these novels were penned in the late 1800s, long before ADD / ADHD became part of the common vernacular.

    Happy reading all!!

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    #93618

    laddybug3
    Member
    Post count: 226

    When I was younger my love was poetry. Mainly because I could read a poem and still stay focus enough to finish the poem. There was there this book, Lunch Money. My mom and my babysitter would read me this one poem about not doing my homework. It was that time when I got bored and would daydream or move about and my medicine at the time failed. The poem was about this child trying very hard to do his homework and failing at it. The poem talked about how he or she seemed to get off the task. After they read the poem or when I got older I would read the poem, I went back to my homework. It was a shock that I could do my homework and complete it. That was until I decided I was too old for the poem.

    The second poem was about a student telling their teacher they are wrong. I loved that poem because it was stating that 2+2=22. Anyhow, I took the poem to mean a lot more. AKA: Little Red Riding Hood. That story still drives me nuts. In grade K when my teacher was reading the story of LIttle Red Riding Hood–my thoughts were that Little Red Riding Hood knew the talking wolf. I mean come on, wolves don’t talk and if they did wouldn’t you run? After raising my voice to defend Little Red Riding Hood knowing the wolf, and the wolf was not a stranger at all. I lost.

    Recently at a book group I ran into my grade K teacher. (Had trouble calling them by their first name.) She saw the movie Little Red Riding Hood and thought of me. She admitted that I was right.

    Another series is Jonnie B Jones (I think I spelled that right). The story is about a young girl and her adventure at school, home, and life. When we had family night and we had reading hours were each of us (my brothers and me) took turns reading stories, poems. My youngest loved that series and it was really a good series to read.

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    #93619

    Monika
    Member
    Post count: 82

    I just bought 4 books of poems for children, (three of which are from clever Jack Prelutsky) very funny and *GASP* sneakily educational. My 3rd grader read last night “ghastly” without hesitation. One book from Prelutsky teaches the children how to write poems which I hope may be more motivating than the required school essays for my extremely reluctant 8 year old writer.

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    #93620

    Monika
    Member
    Post count: 82

    and P.S. the student control journal a free download from http://www.flylady.net is a great tool for learning time management and routines, geared for children I confess to referring to it for motivation when needed :D.

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    #93621

    billd
    Member
    Post count: 913

    Anne with an e, always talking in very long spurts, never focused, forgetting things, temper which she let loose without thinking, yeah, I can see that. Maybe it’s why I like the books, loved the mini-series on TV. I could relate.

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    #93622

    laddybug3
    Member
    Post count: 226

    @billd I cried when Anne hair turned green. LOL! For a week in fourth grade I asked my teacher to read the whole book series. Only watched the mini-series. Funny that I didn’t dress like her for halloween. I would make the perfect Anne with an e.

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