Role Model – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Neurodivergent, family, belonging, understanding, fame.
Children’s book title: Role Model.
Children’s authors: Elle McNicoll.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Knights Of.
ISBN: 9781915820075.
Recommended for children aged: 9+ year-olds.
First published: Paperback September 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: helping to understand the way disability is viewed by your peers and the adults who guide children in the suggested age range and above. Reading this as a whole class would definitely be beneficial.
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Our review:
Aeriel Sharpe liked living in Scotland, the wind, the snow, the way she felt there, but unfortunately, her mum has set her career goals exceptionally high! When she is elected as the new Prime Minister, Aeriel’s mother moves the family to Downing Street and into the goldfish bowl of an existence the thirteen-year-old struggles to understand and adapt to.
Aeriel wants to fit in, and Ana, the girl assigned to be her buddy on her first day, and her two close friends seem to be the best group to try to join. Nothing is easy, however, and when she faints during a school assembly, after being put in a difficult situation, the secretly filmed event goes viral. Then, with the “help” of her mother’s press team, she films a response, and it gets even more attention.
As Aeriel tries to navigate the different world she has been thrust into, it seems the only person who understands is her older sister, Fizz, who sees how conflicted, lonely and sad Aeriel actually is. All she wants is to fit in, or at least be accepted, but how can she do that alone? Finally, Aeriel realises that if she stops for a moment and listens to what she really wants, she can find her real friends right where they have always been.
Our verdict:
Role Model is a book that can break your heart but also show how it can be gradually put back together. Aeriel Sharpe is a brilliant main protagonist, and her story, written as it has to be in the first person, teaches anyone, of any age, just how misunderstood neurodivergent children and adults can be.
The adults in this book, apart from Fizz, Aeriel’s older sister, and Ilya, her bodyguard, do not come across positively in any way. Their purpose seems to be to show how not to behave, rather than how to observe and learn how best to conduct themselves in Aeriel’s presence. The author’s notes make clear she has suffered this type of behaviour herself. I hope things are changing and that the powerful situations contained in this book will help foster a greater understanding of anyone considered neurodivergent.
There is a positive message being made here, which shows how, gradually, and in her own individual way, Aeriel begins to understand how she can make her situation work for her. Obviously, as this is fiction, and her mum is the Prime Minister, it is an easier solution than it may be in real life, where things could take a little more time and understanding.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Aeriel Sharpe finds herself thrust into the limelight when she wants to stay hidden. How could her family have made things easier for her after first leaving Scotland and then winning the election?
- Social media is very quick to make heroes or villains out of people of any age who are in the public eye. Do you think the things that happened to Aeriel, such as the role model assembly and the snow day activities, were dealt with properly for her? How would you have done things differently?
- If you were invited to a banquet at Buckingham Palace, would you go?
- Aeriel’s “friends” were not physical bullies but were still very mean. How did it make you feel when they lied to Aeriel or just dismissed her fears without even considering them?
- How would school life change if you or a friend were followed by photographers or had a bodyguard? What do you think would be the best and worst things about it?
- Does this book, and the letters Aeriel writes “to autism”, make you think about any autistic people you know in a different way? Can you spot things you and others have done in the past that you would change?
Many thanks to Knights Of for the review copy.
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