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Alfred's Journey to Be Liked: New Book Tells of 10 Simple Rules to Guide Friendships

As seen through the eyes of Alfred, a neurodivergent teen, readers will experience a coming-of-age story in simple digestible chunks

I observed people feeling socially rusty, and I drifted to thinking about teen behavior. Alfred was born, and he became my think tank for how to build stronger social muscles.”
— Jill Ebstein
NEWTON, MA, US, January 31, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- "Alfred’s Journey to Be Liked": New Book Reminds Us of Social Behaviors that Help to Build Connection Within Our Communities

As seen through the eyes of Alfred, a neurodivergent teen, readers will experience social angst, misread behavioral cues, and personal feelings of being misunderstood until Coach enters the picture. Short chapters tailored to modern-day attention spans

"Alfred’s Journey to Be Liked" shares the revelations of a neurodivergent 14-year-old teenage boy whose world is comprised of his mom, his favorite Soho Glob cookies, a Ninja named Naruto, baseball stats, and chess. Alfred has difficulty making friends until his mom decides it’s time to change things up and hires Coach.

Coach uses Alfred’s passions to help guide him. Alfred’s love of baseball allows Coach to apply the “5-tool-player” concept to identify personal skills that Alfred would like to develop. Coach’s suggestion that Alfred start a chess club fits with his love of a game that doesn’t require much talking. Over time, Alfred slowly builds a circle of friends. He emerges from being all about the data to someone who understands that “Soft squishy things matter too.”

New characters emerge in this quirky tale, and because nothing is a straight shot, Alfred has some setbacks as he revisits family history and learns about the dad he never knew. His reconfigured world becomes fertile ground for new discoveries.

Ebstein, who doubles as a business consultant, spends much of her time speaking with her clients’ customers and has learned to listen for the “unspoken word,” which she says “Tells us at least as much as the words actually spoken.” Her goal in writing this book? To help Alfred and her readers learn to hear the unspoken, along with other friendship skills.

Alfred learns not to be a “know-betterer” of information, even if he actually knows better and is armed with data. Alfred learns the importance of humor, empathy, and ways to be generous as part of the ten lessons framing Alfred's new understanding of his world.

Ebstein wrote the book during Covid as a kind of social boot camp. “I observed people feeling disconnected and socially rusty, and I drifted to thinking about teen behavior. A fictional boy named Alfred was born, and he became my think tank for how to build stronger social muscles.” The biggest surprise is that Ebstein never meant to develop a neurodivergent character. “It took my therapist readers to tell me that Alfred was neurodivergent,” she admits.

Ebstein hopes parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors can use this book as a way to stimulate conversation with teens. She calls her chapters “chunks” because “Small pieces are the best way to solve complex problems.” Ebstein emphasizes that this is a work of fiction by someone who is not a therapist. “I am a mom who offers homespun practical ideas to help get a conversation started.”

Ebstein has planned two sequels and expects to create a community of characters who learn, share, and grow—as Alfred would say, "A perfect three-fer."

"Alfred's Journey to Be Liked" can be procured on Amazon.

About Jill Ebstein
Jill Ebstein is the editor of the At My Pace series of books – At My Pace: Twenty Somethings Finding Their Way (April 2018), At My Pace: Lessons from Our Mothers (Nov 2016), and At My Pace: Ordinary Women Tell Extraordinary Stories (2015). She’s the founder of Sized Right Marketing, a Newton, Mass., based consulting firm that helps companies use the customer voice to drive strategy. She holds a BS from Washington University and an MBA from Wharton. Learn more at www.jillebstein.com

Jill E Ebstein
SizedRight Marketing
+1 617-527-2517
jebstein@sizedrightmarketing.com
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