Book Review: King of the Neuro Verse by Idris Goodwin

[ID: a rainbow colored book cover with an abstract illustration of a Black teen made up of black and dark green overlapping circles with a crown made of yellow triangles on his head. “King of the Neuro Verse Idris Goodwin” is written in black and yellow text that has swirls of pink, red, green, blue, and orange surrounding it. The “O” letters have pink, green, and red circles inside them that look like eyes. The book sits on a bed of loose book pages covered in small vinyl records with yellow, red, and orange labels. A pair of white wired earbuds sit to the left of the book with three red ribbons stretched out to the right. A set of black, orange, yellow, and blue highlighters fan out to the top right of the photo.]

Happy Book Birthday to KING OF THE NEURO VERSE by @IdrisGoodwin!

Thank you to the publishers for an early look at this riveting novel-in-verse! KING OF THE NEURO VERSE follows a Black teen with ADHD across one memorable summer in 1999. Pernell is determined to pass summer school and become the Cypher King, the best lyricist in his school’s freestyle rap circle. Inside the cypher, Pernell can let his creativity fly, but in the classroom his English teacher has it out for him. Can he harness his creativity and find love before the summer ends?

KING OF THE NEURO VERSE is BRILLIANT. Full stop. Just describing it as a “novel-in-verse” doesn’t begin to cover how immersive and clever the writing is. You’re fully absorbed into Pernell’s life, art, and thought process. Pernell feels like a 3-D character that’s ready to pop off the page with his vitality and depth.

This book covers so many topics: ADHD/neurodivergence, freestyle rap, Blackness, music, high school coming-of-age, and first love. Despite its breadth, the KING OF THE NEURO VERSE is extremely fast paced and easy to read. I found it compulsively readable and absolutely devoured every page.

This is a portrayal of ADHD unlike any I’ve seen before because instead of sprinkling in some representation, the entire way the book operates is based on the neurodivergent experience. The word choice, flow, and style is specifically neurodivergent. It is a piece of neurodivergent ART in every sense of the word.

I loved this book and I’m so excited for all the teen (and adult!) readers who are going to discover and appreciate it like I did. It’s definitely a new favorite for me!

P.S. The vinyl in this photo has been passed down in my family from my paternal grandmother! ❤️