Button Pusher

by Tyler Page

Overview

A memoir-driven realistic graphic novel about Tyler, a child who is diagnosed with ADHD and has to discover for himself how to best manage it.

Tyler’s brain is different. Unlike his friends, he has a hard time paying attention in class. He acts out in goofy, over-the-top ways. Sometimes, he even does dangerous things—like cut up a bus seat with a pocketknife or hang out of an attic window.

To the adults in his life, Tyler seems like a troublemaker. But he knows that he’s not. Tyler is curious and creative. He’s the best artist in his grade, and when he can focus, he gets great grades. He doesn’t want to cause trouble, but sometimes he just feels like he can’t control himself.

In Button Pusher, cartoonist Tyler Page uses his own childhood experiences to explore what it means to grow up with ADHD. From diagnosis to treatment and beyond, Tyler’s story is raw and enlightening, inviting you to see the world from a new perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250758330
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	04/12/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	297,893
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Tyler Page is an Eisner-nominated cartoonist and educator. He has worked with a mix of national and international clients and publishers, in addition to publishing more than half a dozen books of his own. Tyler lives in Minneapolis, MN with his wife, author/illustrator Cori Doerrfeld, and their two very blonde children. His book, Raised on Ritalin, was called “essential reading for medical students and those involved in helping address the challenges of ADHD" by the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/07/2022

This episodic, autobiographical graphic novel from Page (Raised on Ritalin, for adults) chronicles his experiences with ADHD from grade school to high school graduation. When eight-year-old Tyler has trouble concentrating at school, sometimes behaving in a way that even he doesn’t understand, a doctor recommends family counseling, leading him to therapy, diagnosis, and medication, and shifting the way he understands himself and his loved ones. Alternating with a story arc that revolves around school, friendships, and family conflict, fact-driven infographic interstitials contextualize the story and clinical diagnosis, offering statistics and explaining changing understandings of ADHD over time. Crisp, clean art expressively conveys Tyler’s internal dialogue, feelings, and sensory experiences, effectively communicating emotionally charged personal moments, including his father’s angry outbursts and his own reactions to his “race car brain.” Though a mention of Tyler’s quitting medication due to body image is inadequately contextualized, the well-paced interweaving of story beats and explanation, told with a refreshing honesty of feeling, make this a factually informative, accessible introduction to ADHD. Ages 10–14. Agent: Britt Siess, Martin Literary & Media. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A 2022 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books of the Year

"A well-paced interweaving of story beats and explanation, told with a refreshing honesty of feeling, make this a factually informative, accessible introduction to ADHD." —Publisher's Weekly, starred review

"Highly recommended for graphic memoir collections, especially where graphic medicine is popular, this is a reassuring and informative resource for neurodiverse kids."—Booklist, starred

"This resonant memoir shows one boy’s journey through childhood and adolescence as he struggles with his father’s anger and his own brain." —School Library Journal

"Page’s storytelling incorporates an appealing mix of humor, angst, school story, relationship drama, and medical information; it’s a winning tried-and-true formula à la Telgemeier’s Smile..."—Horn Book

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

Gr 7 Up—In this memoir, Page looks back on a childhood and adolescence marked by abuse and ADHD. Tyler is a good-hearted kid, but his attention wanders and he's impulsive; he doesn't understand why he does the things he does, causing problems in school. He explains, "My thoughts and actions don't get through to my brain until it's too late." The family doctor prescribes Ritalin, which Tyler takes for the next eight years. As he grows, Tyler begins to see some of his own behaviors in his father, whose mood shifts quickly and who is verbally and sometimes physically abusive; Tyler vows not to be like him. Tyler's parents' marriage is volatile, and though his mom almost leaves his dad, they don't divorce till many years later. Before his junior year of high school, Tyler stops taking Ritalin (without consulting his doctor), but as he heads off to college, there's foreshadowing about the challenges he will face with adult ADHD. Action in the cartoon art is easy to follow, and high-emotion scenes are intensified with color: fighting parents in fiery orange, Tyler and his younger brother cowering in blue. Interspersed throughout are notes from doctor's visits and information about how the brains of people with ADD/ADHD work differently. Tyler and his family are white. VERDICT This resonant memoir shows one boy's journey through childhood and adolescence as he struggles with his father's anger and his own brain; it's a mirror and a window, but not medical advice.—Jenny Arch

School Library Journal

2021-12-24
Page explores his childhood experiences with ADHD in this graphic memoir.

Young towheaded Tyler’s diagnosis of ADHD results in a prescription for Ritalin to help him behave, though it certainly doesn’t fix a dysfunctional family life marked by his father’s uncontrolled rage. In the 1980s and ’90s, when ADHD was poorly understood, recognition of Tyler’s neurodiversity is delayed because his schoolwork—when he completes it—is good. He struggles to keep friends and handle his anger, but the medication aids with focus. Despite his learning that Ritalin’s more likely to be associated with weight loss, Tyler blames his pubescent weight gain on both the drug and ADHD–fueled disordered eating, so the summer after 10th grade he stops taking it. Despite a two-sentence parenthetical that suddenly stopping Ritalin without consulting a doctor was unwise, adult-narrator Page clearly associates life changes he considers positive (growing taller, losing weight, becoming more social) with his self-prescribed medication change. The narrator describes the adult ADHD that will plague future Tyler, but the memoir closes with his happily leaving home after successfully graduating high school. Readers who pay more attention to Tyler’s story than to the interspersed scientific information and narrator’s asides will likely feel that self-treatment was the correct choice. Expressive cartoon-style art in bright, saturated colors and clear speech bubbles make this a visually enticing work.

An engaging memoir of one boy’s experience of growing up with ADHD with a risky message around medication cessation. (author's note, photographs, art notes) (Graphic memoir. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews