“Oliver, a neurodivergent child introduced in Hunt’s novel Fish in a Tree (2015), makes his picture-book debut. . . . While his classmates work quietly, he fidgets and involuntarily makes noises. His brain ‘blazes.’ He imagines his pencil as a rocket, and his mind fills with questions: Could a pencil rocket reach Saturn’s rings? Shay, the class bully, calls him ‘weird’ and ‘lazy,’ unlike ‘the rest of us’—but the things Oliver says to himself hurt even more. At recess, Oliver makes a wish: ‘Please…please make me more like the rest of them.’ Fortunately, not everyone is like Shay. Jada’s impressed by Oliver’s knowledge of ants, and Albert reminds him that famous inventors, scientists, and artists persisted despite being mocked. . . . Cheered, Oliver dubs Jada and Albert his ‘colony’: ‘In an ant colony, everyone matters.’ . . . Readers, especially those with learning differences, will appreciate the message that, like a tree with colorful autumn leaves, the world is ‘most beautiful’ when people are all different. Energetic cartoon illustrations cleverly convey Oliver’s vivid imagination as well as his emotions. . . . Affirming and uplifting.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Based on characters from Hunt’s best-selling middle-grade novel Fish in a Tree, this picture book brings neurodiversity to a younger audience. While his peers sit still in their desks, completing their assignments dutifully, Oliver fidgets and his “brain blazes” as he imagines his yellow No. 2 pencil as a rocket and questions zoom around his thoughts. Digitally enhanced photo-collage illustrations that feature childlike doodles and school-themed media, such as finger paint, a variety of writing papers, and real school supplies, relate Oliver’s unspecified disorder and the isolation he feels after classmate Shay taunts him. Like the original novel, this story uses a metaphor to help readers understand and appreciate Oliver’s unique way of thinking. In this case, it’s his love of ants and how they all have a colony in which they belong. . . . Once again, Hunt encourages compassion and self-acceptance in all readers.” —Booklist
