"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

23 April 2013

OCD, the Dude, and Me


Vaughn, Lauren. OCD, the Dude, and Me. Dial, 2013.

Danielle has OCD and has been sent to an "alternative" school where the learning environment is better for her. Something happened to her in junior high to trigger her OCD, but she doesn't like to think about that. This book consists of her writings - journal entries, correspondence with various people, and assignments for English class. We follow Danielle as she travels to England with her class, attends a socialization support group, and begs her aunt to rescue her from all the required activities in her life. Eventually, interesting things happen to Danielle and we do find out what happened to her to trigger her OCD.

First off, this girl doesn't seem like any character or genuine human being with OCD that I've ever met. Second, the book is random, scattered, and severely lacking in the plot department. I only kept reading so I could find out why there's a purple bowling ball on the cover. Yes, really. Third, if Danielle is at a special school, why don't any of her classmates have any disabilities?

This book was okay, but not really worth the time to read it. It's just too fluffy for a book that supposedly tackles some very serious issues.

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