OCDaniel

January 18, 2016
King (The Incredible Space Raiders from Space!) offers a candid and memorable account of life with OCD, inspired by his own experience with the anxiety disorder. Thirteen-year-old Daniel Leigh, a wryly funny narrator, has a popular best friend, a crush on a classmate, and a spot on the football team as backup kicker. But he also has a secret that is making him miserable: he is plagued by “Zaps,” his name for the triggers—such as an unlucky number or the wrong number of steps—that create a flood of horrible feelings that can only be quelled by certain actions such as flicking a light switch repeatedly. Writing is an outlet for Daniel, and excerpts from the novel he’s working on are interspersed throughout. When Sara, a selectively mute school outcast, suddenly begins to speak to him, she draws him into a potential murder mystery and becomes the first person to see and understand his struggle. Daniel’s pain and confusion at what he comes to realize is OCD is memorably
portrayed in this moving story of self-acceptance. Ages 8–12. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House.

February 15, 2016
In a departure from his previous book, The Incredible Space Raiders from Space (2015), King offers the story of an "eccentric thirteen-year-old social oddity" who desperately wants to be normal. Exhausted by the excruciating nightly Routine that keeps him from sleep for hours and his daily efforts to conceal his obsession with numbers, Daniel Leigh believes he is crazy. Otherwise, Daniel is a typical eighth-grade white boy. He's desperate to fit in, to make his father proud, and to win the affections of the most beautiful and popular girl in school, in this case Raya Singh. When Daniel (backup kicker and water boy) is plucked from the sidelines of the football field, he's given a shot at making those dreams come true. Then something strange happens. Sara Melvern, who hasn't spoken once in the eight years he's known her, invites him to help her solve the mystery of her father's disappearance, and Daniel realizes that sometimes dreams aren't all they're cracked up to be. Daniel's narration is charming, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking, and a secondary cast of well-developed characters keeps the plot moving. Everything works, save for periodic excerpts of Daniel's writing, which are more distracting than helpful. Part coming-of-age, part mystery, and part middle-grade social-problem novel, Daniel's story will resonate with a broad spectrum of readers. (Fiction. 8-13)

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June 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Daniel, a budding writer and resident pariah, is tortured by a neurosis that racks his body and mind with pain if he doesn't fulfill obsessive rituals before bed, eating, or anything else in life. He lives in fear of these compulsions, until his path is crossed by someone whose cornucopia of irregularities rival his own. Sara is situationally mute and understands his problems because hers are more than she can bear. Believing her father was killed by her stepfather, Sara embarks with Daniel on a desperate search to reveal her father's fate. King uses crisp, believable dialogue to illustrate positive character dynamics, while sidestepping stereotypes and the typical YA tropes in this coming-of-age tale. Readers will find the characters sympathetic but may become disillusioned by the lack of a driving point in the book. At times, the work is a character-driven book of neuroses, and at others it's a quirky coming-of-age comedy. Then, it switches gears and becomes a plot-driven novel of suspense. King endeavors to explore too many avenues of possibility: the progression of Daniel's placekicking career; his unlikely pursuit of Raya, the popular girl from school; the inclusion of the character's own writing; and, finally, the arc unveiling the fate of Sara's father. King is a skillful writer, but the multiple strands give the novel an unfocused feel. VERDICT This book will appeal to readers who enjoy weird boy-meets-misunderstood girl stories, particularly fans of A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz and John Green's Paper Towns.-Brian Hoff, Elmwood Park High School, IL

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2016
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* As the backup kicker on his football team, 13-year-old Daniel spends his time watching from the bench. Socially, he is an onlooker as well. But soon Sara, an ostracized girl at school, breaks through his shyness by demanding help with investigating her father's possible murder. It seems heartless to refuse, though logically (and later, legally) he should. As tension mounts, his anxiety level rises, and The Routine he is compelled to follow at bedtime grows longer and more burdensome. Daniel knows that he is different, but he suffers alone and in silence. It's a revelation when Sara offers him information on obsessive-compulsive disorder and a path toward coping with it. A brief, appended author's note dispels common misconceptions about OCD and calls Daniel an almost autobiographical representation of myself at that age. King creates convincing characters and writes engaging dialogue, and whether or not readers identify fully with Daniel, they will see parts of themselves in this vulnerable protagonist. Clues dropped in the first part of the book may lead readers to expect a conventional sort of happy ending, but the story's conclusion is more complex and satisfying. Written from Daniel's point of view, this perceptive first-person narrative is sometimes painful, sometimes amusing, and always rewarding.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)