I’m too me!

A story that makes you laugh, feel, and see yourself within its pages.

Alex is nine years old, with a notebook full of eraser marks and a head that never stops racing. He loses things, collects scoldings, and trips over his thoughts just like he trips over the stairs. At home and at school, he always hears the same refrains: “Sit still!”, “Listen!”, “Don’t get distracted!” But he doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong. So he decides to put into practice the scientific method he’s just learned at school: observe, record, experiment. That’s how his “not-a-diary diary” is born — a jumble of unlikely lists, doodles, erasures, and zigzagging thoughts. Around him are his teasing older sister — who corrects him and even takes over some pages of the diary — a mother who fills his world with lists (things to do, things not to lose, rules to follow), and a father who might be more like him than it seems. Then there are friends and classmates, laughter and quarrels, and a lost friendship that still leaves a mark. In the end, Alex discovers that the “too much” everyone scolds him for isn’t a flaw but a part of who he is — an energy that can become strength, even talent. Maybe it’s called ADHD, maybe he inherited it from his dad. But above all, it’s called Alex.

• Daniele Nicastro tells, with rhythm and authenticity, the story of a boy who always feels “out of place” and learns to see himself in a new light.
• Illustrated by Carolina Grosa, with a high-readability font designed also for readers who face reading challenges.