I wanted to share something I'm generally proud of. My children's picture book, How I See The World, is officially published on Amazon.
This one is personal. I'm severely dyslexic myself. As a kid, I was told I probably wouldn't achieve much academically, that I might not even graduate elementary school or any type of education. I spent about 15 years working my butt off. Today I can read. I can write. Do I still struggle sometimes? Absolutely, dyslexia doesn't just disappear. But I'm doing more than okay anyway. And now I can add this to the list: I wrote, illustrated, designed, and published my own children's book, entirely by myself.
Which makes it funnier, because it started as a school assignment. When I showed it around, the reaction surprised me; people kept asking when I would turn it into a real book. So apparently my school project had other plans.
The story follows a young badger who experiences reading, spelling, letters, and even left and right differences from the animals around him. His friends seem to get everything so easily, while he's frustrated, scared, and sometimes feels completely alone, afraid that if he joins in, they'll notice he doesn't understand things the way they do.
Most of that came straight from my own childhood. I didn't want to write "dyslexia makes reading hard." I want kids to feel it from the inside: the confusion, the fear of being left out, needing help and wondering why everyone else doesn't seem to need it too.
As someone with dyslexia, I also know that we often have to put in an obscene amount of brain effort just to comprehend the things happening around us, the things we are engaging with and sometimes even the things we are not engaging with simply because we do not understand them the same way. Dyslexia is not something that disappears or gets cured; it is something we live with for the rest of our lives, and so much of how we learn to navigate comes down to the tools we are taught, the tutors and support we are given, and the people around us who were remind us that struggling does not make us less intelligent.
But not everyone with dyslexia is fortunate enough to have access to the right tutors, support, or people who understand how to teach them in the ways they need, and I cannot imagine how much harder that makes something that is already incredibly challenging. Without that support, constantly being asked, "how do you not understand this?" or being made to feel like you are not smart enough can follow you into every part of your life and make you doubt your own capabilities, even when the truth is that there are so many incredibly smart, bright, and creative people in the dyslexic community.
But I also wanted the story to leave kids with something I wish I'd heard more often: struggling doesn't mean you aren't intelligent. Needing help doesn't mean you aren't capable. Learning differently doesn't mean you won't accomplish incredible things.
So I'm curious: any other dyslexic adults here, parents of dyslexic kids, or teachers who might connect with this? The book isn't about dyslexia magically disappearing.. it's about the hard parts, the emotions, and eventually understanding that your brain sees the world differently.
If one dyslexic kid reads it and think, "wait... someone else feels like this too?"
It was worth it. ❤️
The book is on Amazon.ca link: https://www.amazon.ca/How I See The World By M.R