An Excerpt and Guest Post Double Whammy: Stephen Bramucci Talks ADHD and The Race for the Ruby Turtle

Here on this site, I’m a big time fan of process. Any chance I can get to peer into the mind of an author or the hands of an artist, and I’m there. I also get a fair number of requests for folks to do guest posts on this site. Some of these I turn down. Not because the books sound bad or uninteresting, but there needs to be that hook. Something to get me a little more interested in the book. Considering the sheer number of picture books and middle grade novels that come out for kids every week, you can understand my reluctance.

Now I don’t know Mr. Stephen Bramucci personally, and when his Publicity Manager reached out to me about doing a guest post I was skeptical. Promotion for promotion’s sake? That doesn’t interest me. But a piece on Mr. Bramucci’s own writing journey and how ADHD acceptance ties into his life and the life of his main character Jake Rizzi in the book Race for the Ruby Turtle? Now THAT is something I’d like to hear more about!

Here’s a quick recap of the book’s plot:

“Jake Rizzi is about to spend the summer at his great-aunt’s cabin in the Oregon backwoods. His parents seem to need a break from him and his ADHD and while he tries not to take it personally, he’s not so sure about his aunt’s off-the-grid lifestyle. Or the strange stories about a mythical turtle with a ruby-colored shell he keeps hearing. But, thanks to an article going viral Jake learns that the turtle isn’t just a made-up story, and he’s certain that finding it is the key to changing how people see him and his “attention issues.” But he’s not the only one on the turtle’s trail and with his new friend Mia, Jake must decide what matters most . . . a personal win or helping protect this rare wonder.”

With Kirkus calling it, “A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other,” I was ready to hear more. Even better, we’re doing a twofer for you today. First, Stephen’s presenting a guest post and then you’ll get to read some of the book yourself. Win win!

One and all, please meet Stephen Bramucci:

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When I sat down to write Race for the Ruby Turtle (October 3,2023), I knew I wanted to wrestle with big ideas about human intervention in the animal kingdom. I have a lot of questions with regards to how much dominion we ought to have over wildlife and have seen the best and worst of conservation practices globally. These are subjects I spend a lot of time thinking about but I’m also not fully resolved on – which makes them ripe for exploring in a book, in my opinion.

          Themes don’t make a novel, though. Characters do.

My new protagonist didn’t crystalize in my brain until my editor, Mary Kate Castellani, heard me interviewed about my experience with ADHD on the REI “Wild Ideas Worth Living” podcast. She sent me a very succinct note after listening – “Steve, your next main character needs to have ADHD.” Sometimes a great editor tosses you a freebie like that.  

From the outset, the goal was never to take the easiest possible route. I didn’t want to call ADHD a “superpower.” The fact of the matter is that while certain parts of my life have benefited tremendously from my unique brain, others have proven incredibly difficult. I wanted to reflect that in an honest way.

As I developed the character of Jake Rizzi, I committed to the idea that all of his problems would stem, in some way or another, from his ADHD. It might be distractibility or impulsive decision-making or forgetfulness or “ramping up” during moments of stress. Once I landed on that, I also knew I wanted his problem solving techniques and successes to come from those exact same places.

There’s a symmetry there that felt authentic. It’s also proven true in my own life.

In order to make sure I was handling neurodiversity with care, I was re-diagnosed (for the third time in my life) by a psychiatrist and spoke to him about the book. Researching ADHD was interesting but it slowed down the electric joy of generating a first draft. Until one day, mid-pandemic, when the psychiatrist said over Zoom, “Steve, you have ADHD. I don’t think you need to research it anymore. Your own brain is a subject that you’re an unimpeachable expert on.” 

That freed me up to write without trying to encapsulate all kids with ADHD or jam all of the disorder’s many manifestations into one character. I began writing what I knew, in the most literal sense. When in doubt, I sat back and thought, “what would I have done?” The answers sometimes made me cringe but it was in these moments that the book started to really come alive.

Writing a novel about a boy with ADHD made me finally reckon with how it’s shaped my life – times when it’s strained relationships, transferred stress onto people I love, or destabilized my pursuit of larger goals. Of course, the upside was that all of these memories found their way into the book itself. Jake has tension with his parents about his diagnosis; he also carries a lot of guilt around them having to help him navigate his “attention issues.” Both of those elements are all too real for me.

You’ll make your own decisions, but I think the most resonant scene in the book is one that was added at 4 am on the night I turned in the 3^rd draft. There was something important missing – an honest appraisal by Jake, with his aunt Hettle as his foil, of ADHD’s good and bad aspects in his life. It’s a short scene, that begins with Jake telling his aunt all of the ways that his brain has put them in peril and her offering a counterpoint by laying out how that same brain has helped their cause. It was written in a single burst and barely tweaked at all in further revisions.

In many ways, that scene is a conversation it took me 44 years to have… with myself. A chance to take a clear-eyed account of how my brain is wired and come to the conclusion “I wouldn’t trade it for all the world.” The fact that I’ve finally managed to land at that place means that Race for the Ruby Turtle is already a success. My greatest hope is that it might help young readers as they undertake their own journeys toward self-acceptance.

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And now, a glimpse of the book:

The Race for the Ruby Turtle is out on bookstore and library shelves right now, as we speak, so go grab yourself a copy. I’d like to thank Stephen for taking the time to write up this post, and to Lex Higbee and the folks at Bloomsbury for this guest post/excerpt opportunity. Cheers!

Filed under: Excerpts, Guest Posts