Big Brain

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Dawson was about five years old, and we were snuggled in close with a bedtime book. We were eagerly reading to see who would win in a fierce hypothetical battle between a great white shark and a killer whale.

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Dawson had first been exposed to the Who Would Win books as they highlighted battles and facts of different dinosaur species; but as we had exhausted the dinosaur options, he started to navigate towards other animal battles. And tonight was an epic ocean-based war between two strong and intense contenders. 

For those who have not experienced the Who Would Win series by Jerry Pallotta, each book outlines two similar animals to battle each other, with a focus on their unique characteristics to predict which animal would defeat the other. They are filled with fascinating details and Dawson absolutely loved learning about creatures that would likely never have crossed his path. 

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As we turned the page we saw a visual representation of brains. One side of the page highlighted the brain of a great white shark - a Y shaped brain that is focused on the shark’s senses (p. 25, Pallotta, 2009). On the other side of the page was the orca’s brain - a large version of a human brain (p. 24). To provide a scaled comparison, below the killer whale brain is a human brain - which is three times smaller than the killer whale brain. 

Dawson was intrigued by the killer whale and human brain comparison. He confirmed that the human brain was the smaller one, then he paused and looked up at me with his sly smirk and said, “So that’s my brain,” pointing to the killer whale’s, “and that would be your brain!” pointing to the human brain. 

I found the humor that Dawson intended and we laughed together. However, as I continued to think about his statement, I realized how this represented Dawson’s profound awareness of his differences. Later in the week, I asked him about the ‘big brain’ comment.  He told me that he just thinks about the world differently - not like every other human - and he’s right, he does. 

I began to see his fascination with animal characteristics through his eyes - that he is learning how all creatures understand the world, so that he can better understand how he does. By seeing a brain - the source of how we think - on a different scale, he was able to better express how our thinking is similar, but still very different. 

As a proud mom who knows the true intellectual gifts that my son has to share with the world, I completely agree with his ‘big brain’ identification.