Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is the son of a Greek god. He also has ADD/ADHD and dyslexia. I posted about the Percy Jackson books before my daughter and I had read any of them. But now she's zipping enthusiastically through the series, and we've started reading the first book together.
Not surprisingly, I love it. And I immediately dog-eared page 88 when we got there, because of this passage (in which someone else is talking to Percy):
"The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's."
Battlefield reflexes—yes. When I was a young adult, I got to measure the speed of my reflexes once at a science museum. I trounced all my family members. Still, it can be uncomfortable to come high-strung. And seeing too much, or hearing or smelling or feeling too much—how very ADD. It can be confusing and stressful and counterproductive. Despite all this, I have a feeling that Percy's reflexes and senses will serve him well as his tale continues.
I also think our own ADD reflexes and senses can serve us well. But maybe not if we try and suppress them, if we try to pretend we're regular mortals. Maybe those traits serve us better when we celebrate them as extraordinary. Even godly.
Feel free to comment, but no spoilers about the Percy Jackson books or movie!
