Sara and the Search for Normal by Wesley King (review)

This prequel to OCDaniel (BCCB 4/16) focuses on seventh-grader Sara, Daniel’s schoolmate, who has her own mental-health challenges of panic attacks, depression, and schizophrenic episodes. She’s at first reluctant to join a therapy group, but once there she becomes friends with chatty, extroverted Erin, and the experience gives Sara new confidence. It also presents her with a dilemma: she’s sure Erin is being physically abused by her father, and though she knows it may lose her a friend, she’s determined to help her. The abuse plot is a superfluous and awkward sideline, but Sara’s frantic determination to make herself normal, which she sees as the key to life success, is poignant and credible. It’s therefore satisfying when she grows to trust and respect Erin, who thinks the normality goal is a waste of time and potential. Sara’s narration effectively conveys the experience of being in a battle with one’s own brain but she’s also engagingly dry and funny, so readers will appreciate her as good literary company even as they develop sympathy for her struggles. An author’s note about mental illness is appended.