Brainstorm 200: Synesthesia in literature

This week’s Brainstorm features some characters with a condition called synesthesia. This is when one sense is linked to another sense. For example, sounds have certain colors or emotions have smells to the person. A brief survey of research on synesthesia prevalence gave me multiple studies that concluded an estimate that about 4% of the population has some type of synesthesia. (Though all the studies also mentioned how little research has been done on synesthesia prevalence.) Reading about the unique ways these people experience the world is eye-opening. I have books for you featuring 3 fictional characters with synesthesia and 1 picture book biography of a real person who had synesthesia.

The Lost Property Office (Section 13, #1) by James R. Hannibal
Jack thinks he, his mother, and his sister are in England to recover his father's body after an incident. But when he and his sister accidentally stumble into The Lost Property Office, a hidden world is opened up to them. A world where his father was really part of a secret British Ministry, and had skills Jack shares. Skills that allow him to track things and people. And if there's one person who needs Jack to use those skills, it's his father who isn't quite as dead as thought and is being held by a man demanding Jack bring him something called the Ember by midnight. With a young clerk named Gwen he meets at The Lost Property Office, Jack is soon off across London using his newly discovered skills to solve a centuries old mystery relating to the Great Fire with the Ember somehow at the end.
Synesthete:  Jack is a synesthete (it never actually labels him this in the book, but the author's bio does, as Mr. Hannibal himself has synesthesia. Most synesthetes just have a few senses linked, but Jack has all of them linked and that gives him almost supernatural abilities to observe things.

Target Audience:

• Fantasy Fans, Adventure Fans, Time-travel Fans, Superhero Fans, Mystery Fans, Excellent World-Building Fans, Secret Society Fans, Middle Grade Readers on up

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Mia has been worried for years that there is something wrong with her. When she started attending school she discovered that no one else saw numbers and letters had colors. She's kept quiet about it for years, but she can't take it any more. She has to tell someone. After a few visits to doctors and therapists, she and her family are finally directed to a neuroscientist with an answer. Mia isn't crazy, she has synesthesia. Discovering the truth opens a whole new world to Mia, a world she gets a little lost in and may be in danger of neglecting her family and friends. Eventually, something happens to help Mia realize how to balance things better.
Synesthete: Mia (see above)

Target Audience:

• Recent Historical Fiction Fans, Fans of Stories Dealing with Realistic Tween Issues/Family Relationships, Middle Grade Readers

The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock, ill. by Mary GrandPré
Barb Rosenstock imagines what the childhood of Vasily Kadinsky was like and how he discovered a love for art that was different from the norm of that period.
Synesthete: Historians strongly suspect Vasily Kadinsky associated colors with sounds and vice versa and that this affected his paintings.

Target Audience:
Picture Book Biography Fans, Art Lovers, Russian History Buffs, Lower Grade Readers

Space Boy 1 (Space Boy, #1) by Stephen McCranie
Amy is devastated when her father gets fired for a mishap in the mine and her entire family gets transferred back to Earth. Not only is she moving away from friends, but she'll be in cryo during the trip to Earth and when she wakes up all her friends will have experienced 30 years of life while she'll still be a teenager. The only ray of hope in Amy's life are some kind students at school who make an effort to befriend her and show her how to survive as a teenager on Earth in the present.
Synesthete: Every person Amy meets has a flavor to her.

Target Audience:

• Graphic Novel Fans, Science Fiction Fans, Third Culture Kids, Young Adult Readers on up