AWESOME MG GN! BUZZING

BUZZING by Samuel Sattin, illustrated by Rye Hickman

Little, Brown Ink (July 18, 2023)

From the Publisher:

A moving middle grade graphic novel about friendship, belonging, and learning to love yourself despite the voices in your head.

Isaac Itkin can’t get away from his thoughts.
 
As a lonely twelve-year-old kid with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), everything from studying to looking in the mirror becomes a battle between him and a swarm of unhelpful thoughts.
 
The strict therapy his mother insists on doesn’t seem to be working, but when a group of friends invites him to join their after-school role-playing game, the thoughts feel a little less loud, and the world feels a little brighter.
 
But Isaac’s therapist says that exposure to games can have negative effects on kids with OCD, and when his grades slip, his helicopter mother won’t let him play anymore. Now Isaac needs to find a way to prove to himself, to his mother, and to the world that the way to quiet the noise in his head may have been inside him all along.

I loved this book. I know a little bit about obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and some from what I’ve seen on TV or in movies. But this is the first time I’ve read about it in young people. 

We get to see what the disorder is like from the inside and how it affects Isaac, the main character, his life, family, relationships and school. And how Isaac finds his own place in the world. He starts to understand that he’s not what his thoughts are telling him. Buzzed is about how he finds friends and activities/outlets and how they add to his well-being. His mom is about protecting him but doesn’t realize how his new friends make him healthier and happier. The mom and the sister also have their eyes opened to how stuck they are in the family dynamic and that it can change for the better. For anyone who feels different or weird – and that includes almost all of us – there is a community waiting for us. It’s just a matter of finding it.

Really well done.

Book Review: SAY WHAT YOU WILL by Cammie McGovern

If you’re looking for diversity in novels, SAY WHAT YOU WILL by Cammie McGovern, is exactly that. Told from two perspectives, the female main character, Amy, has cerebral palsy. The male main character, Matthew, has OCD.

The story starts in the last year of high school, continues through the summer and into the first year of college. This novel probably falls into the New Adult category.

I found a better insight into people who have these particular conditions. You get to feel and experience what goes on inside them. Amy talks with a computer keyboard that voices what she wants to say. She can type in a speech beforehand or type a response with her one working hand that isn’t spastic. Matthew’s OCD shows us his internal struggle. They find a way to help each other face the truths they haven’t faced before.

Matthew challenges Amy that she’s happy on the outside and surpasses all goals, but that isn’t really how she feels. Amy gives Matthew exercises to overcome some of his issues and gets him to see that going to a doctor, taking meds and accepting help really does make a difference.

There is a lot more going on in this book, too. Amy’s mother pushes her to excel at everything and Amy has to figure out what she actually likes and who she is without people telling her. The mishmash of friends she ends up with due to hiring classmates to be her aids at school, bring her experiences she’s never had before.

What I liked about this story is that it isn’t predictable. That’s not always easy to find. The story shows how not communicating or actually saying what you feel, can lead you down different paths, not the way you thought it would.

I was curious as to how this story came about and I checked out Cammie McGovern’s website and found that exact question and her answer. Here is her website and below is the question she answers on her website. http://www.cammiemcgovern.com/faq/

How did you get the idea for Say What You Will?

One of the mothers who helped start Whole Children had a daughter born with pretty severe cerebral palsy.  After she was born, her parents were told she would probably never learn to walk, talk, or even roll over.  Maybe because her problems were so different than my son’s—who could run around fine, in fact that’s all he did do—I became really fascinated by the long and amazing journey this girl took.  She not only learned to roll over, she was walking independently by the time she was eight, and has since gone on to defy all the doctor’s initial predictions.  She’s still a part of Whole Children and a dear friend of my son’s (in fact, if you watch the Whole Children music video, that’s her and my son in the second to last snippet.  What a wonderful smile she has, looking up lovingly at my boy…)

Great information about her, the WHOLE CHILDREN program and her other books. SAY WHAT YOU WILL published on June 3, 2014.