Really insightful & helpful book.


//I received the book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Full disclosure, I have been following The Mini ADHD Coach on Instagram (@the_mini_adhd_coach) for a few years, so I’m predisposed to love this book! (& I absolutely loved this book!) This is an amazing guide as it helps explain what ADHD is, how it might present, & tips to help those with ADHD (& those who love them) help navigate the world as a person with ADHD. It’s basically a guide that should be given to every teen/adult when they receive a diagnosis. I received my diagnosis later in life & I still struggle to understand it - this guide legit helped educate me & opened my eyes to some strategies I never considered. Not to mention, the art style is adorable & really separates this guide from many of the books out there that can feel more like a medical textbook than a functional guide that could ACTUALLY help me everyday. I wish I had this book back when I first got my diagnosis, but I’m so glad that it exists now!

Thank you to Chronicle Books/Chronicle Prism & NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book to review. All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own.

“People with ADHD have a brain that works differently from those without ADHD.”

I’ve known from almost as far back as I can remember, that I have ADHD. It’s looked different throughout the different phases of my life. Things are always changing and I’m constantly juggling how to respond and manage things. Being a mom of 2 kids required different adjustments than now being a mom of 3. I’ve found various things throughout the years to utilize to manage this condition. I’ve had aha moments about things I struggle with and realizing that they are also a part of my ADHD. When I saw an advanced copy of this book being offered by the publisher, I decided to check it out. It may surprise you to know this is the first official book on ADHD that I’ve really read (though I’m sure my mom read them all and verbally imparted their information to me over the decades).

I love that this book starts at the beginning and is written in a way that everyone can understand. It’s not some scientific, psychological textbook. This book is a great resource for all: whether you have ADHD, know and love someone with it, or just want to learn more. I highly recommend this easy to read and follow resource.

While this book was incredibly helpful in understanding the many ways ADHD has impacted my life and validating some of the issues I've undergone and never known to attribute to ADHD, I'm not sure that the complicated language would be very helpful to young children. I definitely think this would be a great book for parents/caregivers to read with their children as there are some helpful and digestible graphics.

A cute, welcoming book and a very thorough introduction.

From symptoms and that process of moving from suspicion you have it to seeking a professional screening, from a glossary of useful terms to how to cope better in daily life - this was a comprehensive look at life with ADHD. Even better was the fact it was half picture book\graphic novel; my ADHD eyes could easily skim what was going on for each page's concept with the mixed format. So many aspects of my own experience received a helpful name in this, making me feel not so alone, like overcompensation by arriving suuuper early to things, or being stuck in Waiting Mode all day when I know I have an appointment later on.

The introduction also makes it clear this was written by someone with ADHD: it's designed so that you can read it front to back, sure, but more relevant to ADHD patients is that it can be opened at any point for useful, concise, and kindly worded guidance. You can read just the glossary and never the rest. This is really a self-help book that aids you in being nicer to yourself as you manage your ADHD in daily life, and that gentle tone was so important for me as a very tightly-wound ADHD patient and reader.

5 stars for usefulness. I could easily see myself getting a physical copy just for the glossary alone.

This book would have been wonderful just after receiving my diagnosis! I've learned a lot of these strategies since then, but a reminder of them is always helpful! I know how valuable this would be to someone new to the diagnosis or a loved one trying to better understand a person. The author did a good job of being succinct and illustrating things in a digestible way!

I dont have an ADHD diagnosis, I’ve yet to go in for it but in the midst of struggling with getting my life in order I found this book might be insightful. It was incredibly insightful, full of information about common characteristics of ADHD and some helpful tips to keep my life on the right track. I found myself identifying with so many of the traits described as well as finding myself already implementing a few of the tips and hacks that the book suggested. I found this book to be super helpful and made me feel even more comfortable about asking for help. I would definitely recommend this to those who are struggling with ADHD, actually or those looking for help in understanding others with ADHD.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a copy.

I picked this up to try and better understand the individuals in my life who do have ADHD while also hoping to help where I can with things. As someone who might want to help, I don’t think this gave me enough information to really do that, but I do feel like I can understand them a little bit better after reading it.

The Mini ADHD Coach is an excellent name for this as I feel like it does exactly that. It feels like it’s really aimed at individuals who are questioning if they have ADHD or are newly diagnosed with it. Split into sections, the author will talk about how ADHD can affect that certain part and then give small tips about how to navigate that. Sometimes a personal anecdote is there for how the author navigates it and what works for her.

Doodles accompany the words which I think is a really good way to help drive the points the author was trying to get across home. I do think that will be incredibly helpful for people. I also love how the author mentioned at the beginning to read it in every order the reader wants which I know could be incredibly beneficial for some people!

The Mini ADHD Coach is truly a mini resource for people. I think it could be a great place to start if you’ve been recently diagnosed or are trying to understand someone else’s. This is a book that could be helpful in giving a starting point for diving deeper into a certain aspect of ADHD.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Author/publisher for this ARC!

I was diagnosed with ADHD pretty late(late thirties!) but have always suspected it because of strong family history! This book was the perfect for reading little chunks at a time when I could focus. The illustrations and short paragraphs broke it up so it was easy to come back to when I inevitably got distracted by something or lost interest for a bit(not because of the content, just the way my brain works!)

This was definitely a book that makes me feel like I’m not alone, and the tips were helpful to find ways to work around the difficulties of distraction or hyper-focus. It is helpful for people with ADHD but I’d also recommend it for their friends and family, to help them understand what it is like and how they may help.

Alice Gendron's The Mini ADHD Coach feels very much like a collection of her social media posts. Most chapters open with a single illustration flanked by short paragraphs above and below, followed by a few pages with two to three illustrations and three to four short paragraphs, although the introduction does include a few all-text and all-comic pages.

The book seems primarily aimed at newly ADHD-diagnosed adults in their 20s/30s, but could certainly cross over for younger/older readers and for friends and family as well. While bits of the book seem more memoir-adjacent and less broadly applicable (the makeup section, for example), it does feel set up to be relatable.

Fans of Gendron's Instagram/Twitter feeds who are looking for a reference that contains her tips and her art will love this.

I had an eARC from NetGalley, but I think this is the kind of book that will work best in the physical form.

I read this in under an hour. Some of it was basic tips I already knew and felt simplistic. But over and over again I found myself taking a picture of a page to send to my friends who have ADHD. The whole experience of reading was relatable and validating. I’ve already recommended the book to two friends who have read it as well.

I was only recently diagnosed with ADHD as a 39 year old! I found this book very validating. There are quite a few helpful tips that I hadn’t thought of! I will be buying a copy for my son!

I will definitely be taking some tips and tricks to help manage my ADHD. A very relatable read with comical graphics.

This book is the perfect starter info book for someone who was just diagnosed with ADHD. It breaks down the basics, and shares helpful hints for how to deal with living with ADHD. It has cute art and is written in an easy to follow, fun format.
I've followed this author's instagram for a while and I always like to read and share their opinions on living with ADHD. This book is perfect to recommend to someone wanting some easy to digestive info on ADHD in a light read. I could see myself recommending this one.

Absolutely amazing! This book is a great introduction for people who just got diagnosed or are close to someone with ADHD.

Obviously this book is also about personal experience so not everyone with ADHD will relate to everything in the book but it is a great starting point.

This is indeed a mini guide. It is quite short and provides a broad overview of ADHD, diagnosis, and beyond using cartoons and short sentences. The information included is very introductory and would be best for someone newly researching ADHD.

The graphics were fun. I liked the tips. Overall, this was a great book. However, not everyone can afford to be officially diagnosed, not everyone can afford a therapist or even grocery delivery. I feel like a lot of people are going to miss the food messages in the book because of the things that are out of their reach. The book would be great with just the tips and tricks and information that doesn’t cost anything.

Okay, I feel like the format of this is PERFECT for the intended audience. Easy to read, enjoyable, and very educational for someone like me who is only starting to scratch the surface of this subject. It would be helpful for any ADHD'er, the people who love one, or just anyone who would like to expand their understanding of what it's like to have ADHD. Thumbs up!

This book is for anyone struggling with ADHD. It's full of helpful tips and strategies, and it's written in a relatable and easy-to-understand way. The illustrations are simple and informative. It would be a good resource to help manage your ADHD as part of a fulfilling life.

A cute illustrated tutorial on ADHD -- what it is, how its symptoms tend to appear in people's daily lives, what it's like to be diagnosed, and life tips on managing symptoms. The approach here is friendly and casual, like talking to a close friend. The book seems to be mostly aimed at a young-ish person, probably female, with the means to pursue treatment options (mainly, good health insurance), and some disposable income.

This book is for that person who thinks they might have ADHD, or is recently diagnosed. This book's strength is in letting this person know that, while people with ADHD don't all have the same symptoms and difficulties, there are many things in common and they are not alone.

Chapter 1 is a quick intro to what ADHD is as a medical condition. Chapter 2 is a very brief description of how the diagnosis process works. Chapter 3 talks about what you might experience emotionally after a diagnosis. These first three chapters are only about 25% of the book. This is another way of me saying that this book seems very very shallow on the side of ADHD that involves dealing with various medical professionals -- finding and talking to doctors and mental health professionals, navigating the diagnosis, medication, therapy, etc. This is justified, because the author is not herself involved in treating ADHD, but I am concerned that a reader might get the impression that these things aren't as helpful or important as the content that follow in the rest of the book.

The other 75% of the book goes over some behaviors/symptoms that are common with ADHD and lots of life hacks/tips on how to manage them. Most of these are tips that anyone might come across eventually or implement over many years of living and trying to be more productive in general, but I really like the author's presentation of advice in these pages. They seem thoughtfully tailored to someone with ADHD, because each tip is there to address an issue that is more common for people with ADHD. The list of behaviors/symptoms might also be helpful to readers who are wondering if they might have ADHD, but I think that many (most?) of these symptoms are not recognized as "official" ADHD symptoms.

Overall, keeping in mind that this book is written by someone who has ADHD, but is not a medical or mental health professional, I think this is a book that could be very supportive and helpful to someone who is newly diagnosed with ADHD, wants to feel connected to others in the same situation, and wants to know of some tips for living with ADHD.

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the opportunity to review this eARC!