Terry Spencer Hesser

From a young age Tara is plagued with anxieties, worries and fear about all kinds of things, but it isn’t until she first hears the phrase “step on a crack, break your mother’s back,” that she increasingly performs bizarre rituals in order to help ease her anxieties. Her new friend Donna provides a distraction for awhile, but Tara gets worse and is continually misdiagnosed until her father’s friend figures out what’s happening and puts her in touch with his student Sam, another show more obsessive compulsive. Distressing but told with humor and hopefulness. show less

"Step on a crack, break your mother's back!" is the rhyme that begins to run ceaselessly on Tara’s mind. Tara does not know how the “tyrants” gained possession of her mind, but in an effort to control her irrational fears she engages in strange behaviors. She counts sidewalk cracks on her way to school, stands directly in front of two different clocks, prays aloud when anyone swears and begins to kiss her front doorknob 33 times. Tara’s concerned parents have taken her to different show more specialists who have misdiagnosed her. Tara’s rituals baffle and shame her; she is afraid she is becoming “crazy,” thus she becomes secretive and unsuccessfully tries to hide her rituals from her family, friends and neighbors. Tara’s behavior alienates her from her circle of friends, and drive her mother insane (violence escalates from verbal warnings to physical assaults). Towards the end of the book, a family friend identifies her rituals as OCD and connects her with an older boy who is also affected by OCD. This story is engaging and does a phenomenal job at introducing readers to the anguish and torments of OCD. show less

Tara is so relatable

I've never given much thought to how it must feel for someone with OCD, that it's terribly unpleasant for them, that they don't WANT to display such strange behaviors. I'm grateful not to have to deal with this. What a great story!

I found this books descriptions of experiencing OCD and anxiety very relatable, but I dont think its particularly successful as a story. The writing isnt great and a lot of the info about OCD is outdated, which is why I went with 2 instead of 3 stars.