Book thoughts: An unusual boy by Fiona Higgins

Blurb: 

Meet Jackson - a very unusual boy in a world that prefers 'normal'...

Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone. 

But Julia’s eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn’t always easy.

Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for ‘normal’.

My thoughts: I love this book! thought provoking and empowering, and really gets to grips with what it’s often like for a family dealing with an unusual child or

sibling. 

But omg at times my heart was in my mouth reading this, worrying about the poor boy and his family and how his words were being misinterpreted. 

(I’m struggling to remember names today, the brain fog is bad, they’ll come to me in a minute, hopefully) 

There are some amazing characters in this and some unexpected twists, but it definitely reiterates the whole innocent until proven guilty, thing. 

Having an unusual child of my own, ( Kye, has Aspergers and CU,) I found this really easy to relate too. I felt sorry for his mum, as she was still in that stage where she knows something is wrong with her boy but isn’t quite sure what. And then when the accusations are made, and she’s left questioning just what her boy is capable of, just heartbreaking!

But it also shows how good things can come out of the bad and makes us think about how we look at others and the misconceptions we form unfairly. 

And it’s so beautifully written, it’s so easy to lose yourself in the story. 

I could talk about this book for hours, but I’m not in the best place pain wise and fog wise right now, so I’ll keep it short and just say that this boom is definitely worth a read, and I’ll definitely be looking for more from this author in the future. 

As always thanks for reading and please forgive any errors I have Crohn’s disease and am not doing so well right now, so the brain fog is pretty bad and that’s causes me to misspell words, mess up my grammar and forget or muddle words. It sucks but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it. So I hope you‘ll forgive any errors. 

Love and hugs 

Joss xx