Beautifully executed; brings OCD to life with a genuine yet gentle touch.
The emergence of severe OCD symptoms leads one girl on a helpful therapy journey.
Lately, Peyton’s fearful thoughts have become so loud they interfere with her life. As if losing her love for ballet, baking, and skiing weren’t enough, her relationships with her twin sister and devoted parents are beginning to suffer under her overwhelming fears and the pressure she feels to be perfect. When a particularly difficult incident reveals the thoughts she’s been hiding, her parents take her to Anna, a brown-skinned therapist who explains that Peyton has OCD. As blond, light-skinned Peyton works through often excruciatingly uncomfortable behavioral therapy, her tight-knit family learns to be supportive, and she slowly finds her way back to herself. Not only is Peyton’s story a realistic representation of a common type of OCD treatment, it also sensitively shows ways the disorder can affect family members. Peyton’s specific fears illuminate the range of potential OCD triggers beyond the stereotypical, and her parents’ consistent support add comfort to an emotionally challenging subject. Williams’ accessible and expressive art showcases the overwhelming nature of intrusive thoughts while maintaining buoyancy; she effectively employs variation in font size and shape to convey Peyton’s inner monologue. Good’s skillful use of a broad color palette accentuates Peyton’s emotional experiences. The color red (“Red is the color of blood…and lots of blood means death…”) plays a big role in her OCD.
Beautifully executed; brings OCD to life with a genuine yet gentle touch. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
ISBN: 9781250246707
Page Count: 352
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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