In school we are reading books that involve social issues. My book club and I read a book that is a social issue book called A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.

The challenge Mia (the main character with the disease) faces is she has a disease called synesthesia. It’s when you see sounds, numbers, and letters and when you see (or hear) those things, than she sees color. She was trying to hide her challenge that she faces at school but than something happened at school which made her reveal her challenge that she has been going through for a while.

The challenge Mia faces affects how she interacts with the world because if she is talking to someone like her family or her friends than every time she says something than she sees colors. It is very confusing for her when she talks because she can’t concentrate on what she is saying when at the same time she is seeing colors when she talks. Also she doesn’t want anyone to know about her disease that she has and if she interacts with people around her than there is going to be someway that they find out. For example, when she was at school something happened that made her reveal what was happening inside her.

The challenge affects the way Mia thinks or behaves when she is alone because after what happened at school Mia was disappointed and at the same time she had to accept that she has a disease and a lot of people knew about it such as her friends and family. She had to keep thinking of different ways she could get rid of it and finally had to go to the doctors. Also when she was alone she got a message from a boy who also had the disease and they talked about it together. I think when talking about it to someone who had the same disease as her, Mia felt better because she was sharing her feelings. Instead of sharing her feelings with someone who doesn’t know about what’s going with Mia, she shares it with someone who knows about it and who has the same problem. I think it makes Mia feel better.