A Thousand Minutes to Sunlight by Jen White (review)

Cora has rampant anxiety, and she’s terrified at the thought of sixth grade now that her best (and really only) friend, Minny, has moved away. Taunted by the critical voice in her head, whom Cora calls “Brain, ” she’d rather skip school and spend her days metal detecting on the beach, trying to find a legendary cache of coins from an eccentric billionaire. Then she meets her voluble, eccentric classmate Patrick, who has his own unusual plan (he’s hoping to travel back in time to see his late parents), and almost against her will (and definitely against Brain’s sneering), the two become friends. Cora’s narration speaks with heartbreaking plausibility of enduring school and social situations while brutally suffused with fear that peaks into panic attacks, up to the point of bolting from school; kids with their own inner censors will recognize Brain’s ability to squeeze the pleasure out of everything. While the plot is a little overstuffed, Cora’s struggle is front and center, and while her mother isn’t wrong to require Cora (under the guidance of a therapist) to negotiate anxious situations rather than avoid them, the book is frank and sympathetic about the cost of doing so. Anxious kids will certainly appreciate the recognition, and they will also find this a helpful depiction of their struggles for the adults in their life; readers of all stripes will be glad to see Cora moving out from under the thrall of Brain and growing more confident.