Rachael Davis

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

I reviewed this book as part of GeekDis 2023 an event discussing disability and neurodivergent representation from the perspective of our community.

Content warnings:
This book contains discussions of mental health throughout history which includes ableism, stigma, abuse, suicide ideation, suicide, self-harm, war, trauma, eating disorders, depression, defamation of character, hallucinations, delusions, bullying, and transphobia.

It also discusses treatments of mental health conditions in an educational section.

A Mind Like Mine by Rachael Davis instantly reminded me of I Am Not a Label by Cerrie Burnell, and it turns out that isn’t a coincidence; they’re both published by the same publisher. While I am Not a Label featured figures from past and present with a variety of different types of disabilities, A Mind Like Mine is focused on mental health conditions. It has an excellent introduction in the form of a letter to the reader from author Rachael Davis who explains her inspiration for the book. She talks about her own mental health and how finding out that there were many people who had mental health conditions throughout history made her feel less alone.

Her aim of this book is to start a conversation about mental health because we all have mental health, just as we have physical health, and it’s not talked about enough, she points out. Throughout A Mind Like Mine Davis not only successfully starts that conversation, she discusses many different types of mental health conditions by introducing people from history and present day. Alongside colourful illustrations, she presents an easy-to-read compelling biography for each person. I particularly liked that Davis made a point to include quotes or sources in these biographies that showed how each person spoke about their mental health. As we don’t talk about mental health that much as a society children might now know how to put how they’re feeling into words. I know I didn’t, and I think that I would have benefited a lot from reading these accounts in that way.

Then after one or two biographies, depending on their conditions, Davis talks specifically about a mental health condition. Her information is educational and thorough, but most of all she covers many questions that a young person would want to know. What impressed me with these sections was how many topics she covered and thought to cover. For example, discussing the difference between OCD and autism which for children is very relevant as they most likely know at least one child with autism. What impressed me the most was the section on treatments, as this is one of the most avoided topics when it comes to talking about mental health especially when it comes to young people. It’s also one of the most important topics that they need to know about because uninformed young people become uninformed adults.

Overall I found the information side of A Mind Like Mine to be fantastic, however, I thought the selection of modern day figures was poorly selected. While Jameela Jamil may look like a good choice on the surface, she has been extremely controversial in recent years especially with regard to the transgender community. There was an imbalance of gender, with more women than men, and only one LGBTQIA+ person included in the book. It felt as though this section was cultivated more to sell the book by including certain famous people than to focus on talking about mental health. I also felt that name-dropping Elon Musk in Nikola Tesla’s biography just because he named his company after the scientist was completely irrelevant to a book about mental health.

I’m not quite sure if I would agree with the reading age of this being middle grade, however, that is what it has been marketed as. If anything I would personally say it’s towards the older end of that bracket if read alone or if the child is not a confident reader. Please note that I am not a parent or a teacher, and this is just a personal opinion.

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