Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry

Published March 14th, 2017 by Feiwel & Friends

A girl with Tourette syndrome starts a new school and tries to hide her quirks in this debut middle-grade novel in verse.

Calliope June has Tourette syndrome. Sometimes she can’t control the noises that come out of her mouth or even her body language. When she and her mother move yet again, she tries to hide her TS. But soon the kids in her class realise she’s different. Only her neighbour, who is also the class president, sees her as she truly is—a quirky kid and a good friend. But is he brave enough to take their friendship public?

As Callie navigates school, she must also face her mother’s new relationship and the fact that she might be moving again—just as she’s starting to make friends and finally accept her differences. This story of being true to yourself will speak to a wide audience.

What did I think about this book?

This book is a short read. I don’t think it took me up to 2 hours to read it, I went through it in one lie down. I love the writing style in the book, it’s beautiful prose and it teaches on how lots of people (especially little kids) don’t understand what they don’t perceive as the normal and proceed to ridicule it, which is wrong.

Calliope is different. Different in a quirky way, but it’s not her fault. It’s just the way she is and because of bad advice was given to her by a previous doctor she keeps her illness a secret, which only makes her gets ridicule some more by the kids in her class.

She’s so smart and intelligent, but so alone. Her life is drastic and prone to constant change, so it makes her feel even more secluded from the rest of the world, but all she needs is the courage to stop holding back and let herself be free and that starts with her friendship with her neighbour Jinsong.

Calliope’s relationship with her mother is a shaky one and I’m just glad in the end, she realises she will be okay no matter what or where she is. I loved reading about Calliope and it’s a good book to recommend to anyone. It’s kind of a reflection of what the author went through as a child with Tourette Syndrome, so I understand, why she wants to educate us about it.

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