A tender, cleverly framed look at OCD that resonates.
Bay Ridge Middle School student Chris Cleevy learns what’s really controlling his world in this story where anxious spirals meet out-of-this-world paranoia.
Chris, self-proclaimed “master storyteller and sci-fi tragic,” has always loved stories about aliens. But after watching Invasion of the Mind-Eaters, a movie his friend Jayden recommended, Chris becomes terrified, believing that his fastidious routines are the only thing stopping aliens called the Soth from taking over the world. Chris feels he must tie his shoes just right or the Soth mothership will appear. He taps four times to provide a mind-control shield against the aliens, does up his buttons correctly so their powers don’t work on him, and more. And when he meets his mom’s new boyfriend, Phil, Chris becomes convinced that Phil is a Soth, and he doubles down on the rituals he believes will protect him. This book includes realistic portrayals of OCD symptoms and therapy processes. The graphic format enhances the story’s emotional resonance, visually capturing the push and pull between Chris’s imagination and his lived reality through inviting, action-packed panels. Bogacs handles family and friend dynamics with care, furthering the story’s authenticity. Pale-skinned, strawberry-blond Chris and his mom present white, while many members of the supporting cast are brown-skinned.
A tender, cleverly framed look at OCD that resonates. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9780063086142
Page Count: 224
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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