Justin Case is twelve — dyslexic, mildly autistic, and keenly attuned to the small, overlooked details of the world around him. His diary (or “dairy”) moves between school days and dreams, blending football statistics, spelling rules, and moments of dry humor with surreal visions where reality bends just enough to tell the truth.
Structured as forty-two diary entries paired with forty-two dreams, Dear Dairy is an intimate novel about voice, attention, and what it means to be heard. Funny, perceptive, and quietly defiant, Justin uses imagination not as escape but as survival in a world that often speaks too loudly.
Both tender and unsettling, Dear Dairy asks readers to slow down and listen closely.
It honors the intensity of a brief stretch of childhood, and was inspired by a 7th grade student I taught in special education math, whose voice and imagination stayed with me long after. This book is my promise to capture that voice and imagine the world he carried with him. It’s a story about humor as armor, imagination as survival, and the power of being heard— even when the world doesn’t always listen. the lasting resonance of a voice once given space to speak.
This isn't a classic coming of age story... it's a coming to voice story.
Reviewed by Fiza Pathan (IBDP, IGCSE, ICSE, ISC): “Dear Dairy is a masterpiece of neurodivergent representation—funny, heartbreaking, surreal, and deeply human. Goldsmith’s experimental structure and authentic voice make it ideal for classroom study alongside texts like Curious Incident and Flowers for Algernon. A vital contribution to literature that honors, rather than pathologizes, diverse minds.”
Justin Case is twelve — dyslexic, mildly autistic, and keenly attuned to the small, overlooked details of the world around him. His diary (or “dairy”) moves between school days and dreams, blending football statistics, spelling rules, and moments of dry humor with surreal visions where reality bends just enough to tell the truth.
Structured as forty-two diary entries paired with forty-two dreams, Dear Dairy is an intimate novel about voice, attention, and what it means to be heard. Funny, perceptive, and quietly defiant, Justin uses imagination not as escape but as survival in a world that often speaks too loudly.
Both tender and unsettling, Dear Dairy asks readers to slow down and listen closely.
It honors the intensity of a brief stretch of childhood, and was inspired by a 7th grade student I taught in special education math, whose voice and imagination stayed with me long after. This book is my promise to capture that voice and imagine the world he carried with him. It’s a story about humor as armor, imagination as survival, and the power of being heard—
even when the world doesn’t always listen. the lasting resonance of a voice once given space to speak.
This isn't a classic coming of age story... it's a coming to voice story.
Reviewed by Fiza Pathan (IBDP, IGCSE, ICSE, ISC):
“Dear Dairy is a masterpiece of neurodivergent representation—funny, heartbreaking, surreal, and deeply human. Goldsmith’s experimental structure and authentic voice make it ideal for classroom study alongside texts like Curious Incident and Flowers for Algernon. A vital contribution to literature that honors, rather than pathologizes, diverse minds.”
Amazon: https://a.co/d/4qsWCHV
UBL: https://books2read.com/DearDairy