The Next Shiny Object

“Talbott’s energetic cartoon illustrations, interspersed with dialogue between dragon and child, vividly convey how the child’s attention constantly meanders. . . . The only thing that keeps the protagonist focused is cycling. Reading about bike maintenance leads to researching Leonardo da Vinci, who ‘had ideas about everything.’ In a dream, Leonardo rescues the narrator from ‘a sea of shiny objects’ and introduces such visionaries as Galileo and Mozart—members of the Center for Outside the Box Thinking, all with their own dragons. After Leonardo reminds the narrator, ‘You can choose what to ignore and what to explore,’ the child realizes it’s OK to let some shiny objects pass. . . . Readers with ADHD will particularly empathize with the child’s curiosity and frustration. All will enjoy the clever text and animated illustrations. Encouraging.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Curiosity can feel like a friend, but for the young boy in this book, it feels more like ‘a beast bouncing me around in a pinball machine.’ Curiosity is personified as a golden dragon: cute but relentless, always chasing the next distraction and pulling the narrator along. . . . The attention-hijacking ‘shiny objects’ swell into a turbulent sea of distraction. . . . Leonardo da Vinci appears and reassures the boy that he, too, was curious about everything and easily distracted; though this led to many unfinished pieces, it also fueled his creativity. Da Vinci encourages the boy to see his curiosity as a source of imagination and insight. The book closes by highlighting innovators who shared similar struggles, and an author’s note adds a personal reminiscence. Talbott’s story doesn’t minimize the real challenges of navigating a neurotypical world but offers comfort and a reframing, showing that thinking differently can also be a strength.” —The Horn Book

“A child learns that ‘a busy mind can be a beautiful thing.’ . . . Musing about curiosity, the light-brown-skinned young narrator likens it to the feeling of ‘a friend exploring with me, or a beast bouncing me around a pinball machine.’ But the constant movement feels more frustrating than fun as the beast, pictured as a dragon, jumps from one shiny object to the next. . . . One night, drowning in a dream’s ‘sea of shiny objects,’ the child is rescued by Leonardo da Vinci, whose own long acquaintance with curiosity and distraction allow the child to reframe how to move through the world. Citing myriad creative thinkers, da Vinci offers a key piece of advice: using an established feeling of focus to ‘choose what to ignore and what to explore.’ . . . Validating dialogue . . . an upbeat picture of a child’s coming to terms with thinking outside the box.” —Publishers Weekly