By Alexandra Berrocal
A Like The Flowers, B Like The Ocean is a children’s book by Sarah Godlin that was published in 2023. She is a local author and this book can be found in the Authors’ Hall of the school library, where many local authors can be found. She is also an alumna from Cal Poly Humboldt, coming from the English department, and was illustrated by Kylee Conriquez, another Humboldt local. They studied studio art with a concentration in painting at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Godlin has something called synesthesia, which is when two of your senses sort of mesh. People with synesthesia might see numbers and letters as colors. They might feel certain sounds. When they taste food, they may see shapes, and so on. This book is about a young girl with synesthesia entering school for the first time. She is upset because her teacher is teaching about numbers and letters all wrong, with no attention to what colors the numbers and letters are, which causes her great distress. She then sees a doctor — a child psychologist to be exact — and this person evaluates her and explains that she has synesthesia. She also explains to the young girl that other people can’t see the colors that she can. This alleviates a lot of the girl’s distress. The book pretty much ends there, on a happy note, with her realizing she has a special gift and she is accepted by her classmates.
One of my high school besties, Jason, has synesthesia. I am not sure exactly how his synesthesia works, but I know that he often sees numbers and letters as colors. I am not sure if that extends to all sounds he hears. The funny thing is, it never affected our relationship one way or the other. Jason and I met as children.
He once told me that he saw a certain number as a really pretty royal blue. He also said that seeing letters and numbers as colors is an everyday thing for him, that it was nothing special. I didn’t treat him differently when I found out about that, for better or for worse. I didn’t think much of it. However, I do think that his world must be very interesting in a way that mine isn’t. On the other hand, I’ve experienced autism. Sometimes, when I tell people about that, they ask me what it’s like to have autism. I am always tempted to ask what it’s like to be neurotypical. Autism is as normal to me, and synesthesia normal to him, as being neurotypical is to… well… neurotypical people.
I guess we all have superpowers.
Alexandra Berrocal is a self-published author who has written fifteen books. She likes to crochet and draw, as well as read and write. She is from Orange County. They are a journalism major at Cal Poly Humboldt. They like dogs, and they sing alto in a choir. If you have an idea for a book she could review, email them at alexandraberrocal@gmail.com.
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