Button Pusher by Tyler Page

Button Pusher is the graphic-novel memoir of a boy who struggled with ADHD before learning to manage it.

Button Pusher by Tyler Page. First Second, 2022, 265 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

Out of Control

Getting called into the principal’s office is a common experience for Tyler—and for his parents. Every one of his teachers has had to deal with his incessant talking, jumping out of his seat, wiggling, and otherwise acting on any impulse that enters his overactive brain. Like cutting into the school bus seat with the pocket knife his grandpa gave him. It’s the last incident that leads his mom to make a doctor’s appointment—that, and the headaches he’s been suffering.

Home life isn’t great, chiefly because of Tyler’s dad and his explosive temper. Family counseling doesn’t help either Tyler’s behavior or Dad’s temper; not until ADHD becomes a possible diagnosis (for both) does the boy begin to get a handle on his life.

Learning Is Understanding

This memoir in comic-book format is supplemented by clinical reports and graphic representations of how an ADHD brain is wired differently. The author acknowledges that this condition can be misdiagnosed and psychosomatic drugs can be overprescribed.* But he insists, as someone who lived it, that ADHD is real. We have no reason to doubt him, even though I personally believe it can be managed better by delaying formal schooling for overactive boys.

Family dynamics are another matter. Though his dad probably had some hyperactivity as well, drugs never helped for long and the parents eventually divorced. Tyler represents his dad’s profanity-laced tirades with #@!* symbols, which may justifiably rule out this memoir for some Christian families. Otherwise it’s an honest and enlightening look at a condition common enough among boys (and some girls). Information leads to greater understanding—or it should.

*Tyler weaned himself off Ritalin when he was in high school and has gone on to a successful career as a cartoonist and author.

Consideration

• As noted, the vulgar words in Dad’s tirades are blocked out, but not the misuse of God’s name.

Overall Rating: 3.75

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.25

Read more about our ratings here.

• Reviews: The title character of Jason Reynolds’ Stuntboy in the Meantime is seriously ADHD, as is an important character in The Middle of Somewhere.
• Review: For kids who are struggling to focus on their studies, The Homework Squad’s ADHD Guide to School Success has some helpful study tips.

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