Read This/Teach This: How Are You, Verity?

By Jennifer Slagus

READ THIS

Synopsis
How Are You, Verity? follows Verity, a neurodivergent and nonbinary child, who loves sea creatures and is eagerly anticipating a school trip to the aquarium. Whenever someone asks, "How are you?," Verity loves infodumping facts about their favorite sea creatures. Their (cued neurotypical) brother, John, explains that this question is often just a polite greeting, not an invitation to share what they are most excited by at the moment. Verity tests their brother’s hypothesis and experiments with asking others in their community “How are you?” to gauge their responses and social expectations. When Verity’s school trip is unexpectedly canceled, they’re rightfully upset, and John asks Verity to tell him how they’re really doing. With John’s help and support, Verity designs their own aquarium at home and invites their neighbors over to enjoy.

Review
As a neurodivergent reader, I immediately connected with Verity. Questions like “how are you” are challenging—even for adults—especially when (as Verity discusses) the expectation is to always say “Good” even if that’s not the truth. I loved how Verity’s brother John gently clues them in to the social norms, but still allows Verity to figure things out in a way and at a pace that made sense for them. Duff writes in the backmatter Reader’s Note how they wish they had a brother like John growing up who they could ask about social rules and who would kindly explain things to them. That’s one of my wishes too, and I’m hopeful that children’s literature can serve as one path for founding this understanding and fostering caring discussions among peers (or, better yet, totally changing the social norms altogether). 

It’s exciting to see that, within the past five years or so, neurodivergent representation has grown across children’s literature. However, many of those stories still lack intentional intersectionality or may be written by authors who aren’t neurodivergent themselves. Duff’s picturebook breaks with those trends to meaningfully center a cued-Black, nonbinary child while sharing their own neurodivergent experiences with the world. Our shelves and readers deserve more books like How Are You, Verity?

Reader Recommendation
Perfect for readers who love sea creatures and for those who think social situations can be a bit confusing at times!

TEACH THIS

Duff’s picturebook would make a great addition to classroom or library lessons focused on themes of neurodivergent and/or disability acceptance, navigating social norms, and expressing one’s emotions, as it offers readers a glimpse into perspectives and ways of being in the world that may be alike or different from their own.

The Reader’s Note at the back of the book has great information about the author’s experience growing up unknowingly-neurodivergent, about neurodiversity, and offers ideas for supporting young people. Some of these “Thoughts for People Supporting Young People” provided in the book can offer entry points into teaching the text: such as, role-play ideas for understanding social scripts (like responses to “How are you?”) or suggestions for supporting the integration of young people’s special interests in the classroom (e.g., Verity’s love of sea life). ​

Other activity examples may include:

• Sea Creature Research: Since Verity loves sharing facts about sea creatures, have students join in the fun by researching and presenting their favorite sea creature.
• Aquarium Art Project: Create an aquarium scene by drawing or crafting; students can include their favorite sea creatures and write a short fact about each one.
• Exploring Special Interests: Many neurodivergent people, like Verity, have special interests. Sometimes these are seen as being too narrow or unconventional for children their age, but they’re often a strong source of joy. Encourage students to share about their favorite things (even if they’re super specific or unconventional) and think of ways to incorporate those interests into your teaching. For example, if a student has a favorite phrase, try using it in as an attention grabbing call-and-response. Or, when explaining a lesson, try to find examples that center a student’s favorite thing, food, game, event, etc. 

Educators could, of course, also use Duff’s story to foster meaningful discussions about disability and difference as a means of exploring how young people can support their peers and community members.

Potential discussion topics could include:

• Discuss the expected responses when someone asks “how are you?” and unpack why these are considered the “norm.” How can accepting alternative options make our classrooms more inclusive? 
• Why might Verity share facts about sea creatures when people ask them “how are you?”
• What does Verity learn about the question "how are you?" from their brother John?
• How does Verity feel when the aquarium trip is canceled? How do they express their feelings to John? How does John support Verity?
• Can you think of a time when you felt misunderstood like Verity? How did you handle it?
• Why is it important to accept and understand differences in how people communicate and express themselves?

Additional Information
Educators can preview the story, read by the author, on the publisher’s YouTube channel.

Jennifer Slagus (they/she) is a Visiting Assistant Librarian for the Social Sciences & Humanities at University of South Florida Libraries in Tampa, FL.