EDGAR AWARD WINNER FOR BEST MYSTERY BANK STREET BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SILVER BIRCH AWARD WINNER “Complex and satisfying. Written from Daniel’s point of view, this perceptive first-person narrative is sometimes painful, sometimes amusing, and always rewarding.” –Booklist (starred review) From the author of Incredible Space Raiders from Space comes a brand-new coming-of-age story about a boy whose … comes a brand-new coming-of-age story about a boy whose life revolves around hiding his obsessive compulsive disorder–until he gets a mysterious note that changes everything.
Daniel is the back-up punter for the Erie Hills Elephants. Which really means he’s the water boy. He spends football practice perfectly arranging water cups–and hoping no one notices. Actually, he spends most of his time hoping no one notices his strange habits–he calls them Zaps: avoiding writing the number four, for example, or flipping a light switch on and off dozens of times over. He hopes no one notices that he’s crazy, especially his best friend Max, and Raya, the prettiest girl in school. His life gets weirder when another girl at school, who is unkindly nicknamed Psycho Sara, notices him for the first time. She doesn’t just notice him: she seems to peer through him.
Then Daniel gets a note: “I need your help,” it says, signed, Fellow Star Child–whatever that means. And suddenly Daniel, a total no one at school, is swept up in a mystery that might change everything for him.
With great voice and grand adventure, this book is about feeling different and finding those who understand.more
I have had this book on my “to read” list for a while and when I was looking for an audiobook to enjoy while I worked in the garden I saw this and was like, “Yay, yes, please.” I liked how most of the story was just the junior high kids, and not a lot of parents. I like books like that. I mean, they had parents, and they did their part and had their characters and personalities, but this was one of those stories where the kids have it all, the heroism, the character development, all the action. I bookmarked one section for myself to put in my “Keepers” journal, and here it is: “Sometimes you do strange things for other people. I guess that’s friendship.” I fully agree! I really liked that he was writing a book IN the book, so there were two stories, and I liked their parallels, if that’s what you call it. I have completely noticed how saying, “I’m OCD” has become like a cool thing to say or something in the past decade. People have been saying it about everything all the time, and like WANTING to claim themselves as that or label themselves, and I also knew enough to know they probably truly aren’t. In a world where everyone wants you to know their phobias or just plain old wants to have them, or allergies or fears or “issues,” because somehow it’s become cool to flaunt them, this book was great because it gave some reality to the ACTUAL meaning and feelings and actions of OCD. If you REALLY have them, you’re probably not telling everybody about them. I mean, that’s how it was when I was growing up. If you were afraid of something, you didn’t just tell everyone. If you had a problem, you knew about it, but not many others. Your stuff was your own stuff, especially the scary or the private or embarrassing. Like if you were allergic to something you just didn’t eat it or whatever, and maybe a couple of people knew why. Now everyone is evidently expected to have phobias or issues or fears or allergies or whatever, and everyone is all aware of it all the time. But this…this is even more different, probably. People generally don’t think of it as a mental disorder or as anything that’s really real or debilitating or scary because of the overuse of it, I would say. Daniel was pretty cool. I also liked Raya, and I’m not a fan of football at all but I liked all the football action in this book, and it was pretty funny picturing Sara and her sign, and pretty exciting too, to think of Daniel’s feats and victories.
This book was amazing. Finally, someone writes a beautiful and exceptionally accurate piece on OCD. It drives me mad when people say things like “I’m so OCD” as an expression. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is nothing to make sport of, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Daniel is an easy character to relate to, that’s one thing I absolutely love about him. Alright, enough of my ranting. Pick up your own copy and read immediately. You won’t regret it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. All of the characters were well-rounded and believable, and the plot was exciting and fun. The behavior of an 8th-grade buy with OCD seemed spot-on, and the protagonist was intelligent, goofy, relatable in his insecurity, and lovable. The only thing I found hard to believe was (small spoiler) that his parents would not have noticed him pacing and flicking his lights on and off for up to five hours as he tried to count the correct amount of steps, tooth-brushings, and light-switch flicks to allow him to properly get into bed. Besides the parental ignorance, this book is really fun, interesting, and provides a realistic glimpse into the life of a kid suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive disorder. You can’t help but root for him 100% of the way.
it was really good