Adam walks a tightrope, suspended by his mental acrobatics over an ocean of uncertainty, excessive responsibility, and self-recrimination. Teresa Toten’s novel enables readers to begin to understand how deeply traumatic it can be when innate neurodiversity is compounded by puberty and exacerbated by familial difficulties. Still, you can see how Adam’s character resonates. But perhaps I am revealing too much weird… Three, on the other hand, is a gentle green and 7 fluctuates between icy and vibrant blue. Six is probably the worst number, though, and is bright red. It’s not prime, but it is in fact the product of 17 (my favourite prime number) and 3 (another number I love). Prime numbers are particularly wonderful it’s true. (I’ve been told by the professionals, though, that it is only “D” if it gets in the way of living a meaningful life… so I’ve got this.) Still, the first time Adam contemplates numbers, my mind grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. More than that, though, I discovered early in the novel how insidious my own (mild) OCD is. Teresa signed the book to my daughter as I ran out the door.

I had received a call from my daughter’s school, and had to run she had just switched meds, and they needed me to come. I was anticipating with excitement talking to Teresa, with whom I was Facebook friends, at the end of the presentation, but it was not to be.

I bought it in paperback when it first came out, and Teresa was at Granville Island presenting with Eric Walters.

Teresa Toten’s Unlikely Hero of Room 13B, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature, strikes close to home.

The hero of room 13b