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panda_incognito 's review for:
A Mind Like Mine: 21 stories of mental health disorders
by Islenia Mil, Rachael Davis
Note: The title for this Goodreads listing is currently incorrect. It should be A Mind Like Mine: 21 Famous People and their Mental Health.
I liked the concept of this book better than the execution. The author introduces a range of historical greats and current celebrities who have struggled with their mental health, educating children about different disorders and showing children that they can be successful in spite of whatever mental health issues they face. I like the concept, and the illustrations are beautiful, but the bios are so short that they often leave out important information or only bring up the details that would support the author's interpretation. This is particularly an issue with the historical figures, since she is presuming their diagnosis, while she can share quotes from current celebrities where they define their struggles in their own terms.
The author always clarifies that when it comes to historical figures, we can never be sure what their diagnosis would have been under modern medicine, but she says which diagnosis most scholars or experts would currently agree on for this person. She doesn't provide any citations for this, and even though a ten-year-old isn't going to care about source notes, it bothered me that she didn't include a bibliography to show what she had read and researched before concluding, for example, that Michelangelo had OCD. There is significant documentary evidence pointing in that direction for Nikola Tesla, but it seemed like a stretch for Michelangelo, unless there's additional information that she didn't share.
When the author is writing about current celebrities, this is no longer a concern, since they have received professional diagnoses and talked openly about their struggles. However, the author takes every opportunity to highlight details and statements that support her political views, to the point where it distracts from the mental health representation that should be the focus of the book. In addition to this, the special sections explaining different mental disorders are often too brief, or appear in seemingly random order.
Some of these bios are excellent, and I appreciate the range of different issues that the author covered. I also think it's wonderful that she included an example of a man dealing with an eating disorder, since most books for both children and adults presume that this is solely an issue for girls and women. However, even though this book has a lot of great elements, it isn't as good as I had hoped it would be. Granted, I'm going to be a particularly sensitive critic, since I'm a history major and psychology minor who has struggled with mental health issues, but I hope to see future books on this topic that are more thorough, more nuanced, and less politicized.
I received a free copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the concept of this book better than the execution. The author introduces a range of historical greats and current celebrities who have struggled with their mental health, educating children about different disorders and showing children that they can be successful in spite of whatever mental health issues they face. I like the concept, and the illustrations are beautiful, but the bios are so short that they often leave out important information or only bring up the details that would support the author's interpretation. This is particularly an issue with the historical figures, since she is presuming their diagnosis, while she can share quotes from current celebrities where they define their struggles in their own terms.
The author always clarifies that when it comes to historical figures, we can never be sure what their diagnosis would have been under modern medicine, but she says which diagnosis most scholars or experts would currently agree on for this person. She doesn't provide any citations for this, and even though a ten-year-old isn't going to care about source notes, it bothered me that she didn't include a bibliography to show what she had read and researched before concluding, for example, that Michelangelo had OCD. There is significant documentary evidence pointing in that direction for Nikola Tesla, but it seemed like a stretch for Michelangelo, unless there's additional information that she didn't share.
When the author is writing about current celebrities, this is no longer a concern, since they have received professional diagnoses and talked openly about their struggles. However, the author takes every opportunity to highlight details and statements that support her political views, to the point where it distracts from the mental health representation that should be the focus of the book. In addition to this, the special sections explaining different mental disorders are often too brief, or appear in seemingly random order.
Some of these bios are excellent, and I appreciate the range of different issues that the author covered. I also think it's wonderful that she included an example of a man dealing with an eating disorder, since most books for both children and adults presume that this is solely an issue for girls and women. However, even though this book has a lot of great elements, it isn't as good as I had hoped it would be. Granted, I'm going to be a particularly sensitive critic, since I'm a history major and psychology minor who has struggled with mental health issues, but I hope to see future books on this topic that are more thorough, more nuanced, and less politicized.
I received a free copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.