This story is about Samantha - a 16 year old who on the surface has it all. She is popular, is friends with all the right girls, does well in school, has a great family and is on track for a college scholarship in swimming. But Samantha is hiding a mental illness, Samantha has OCD and she struggles to turn off her brain when it starts to worry about something.
Samantha is secure with her friends, but she also knows that one small slip up and she will be shunned by them all, and that scares her a lot. But then Sam meets Caroline who introduces her to Poet's Corner, a secret group of kids from her school who aren't like her regular friends. As Sam gets to know these other students, she is drawn to AJ more and more, and she starts to feel like she is a normal teenager. However, what Sam needs to learn is that normal is different for everyone.
I LOVED this book- I read it in about 3 hours straight. As I was reading it I was thinking about a few kids in my school who struggle with anxiety and mental health. Sam reminds me so much of one of my girls- a girl who like Sam thinks she is weak and different and broken and yet like Sam, she is stronger than anyone I know. I'm really hoping this student will read this book, but I'm not sure I can convince her of that.
There is one mature scene in this story, however it is gentle enough that this book still belongs in an Intermediate classroom. I can't wait to read more books by Tamara Ireland Stone.
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