When Tara was eleven years old, she heard the phrase that changed her life: step on a crack, break your mother's back. . . . And before Tara knew what was happening, she was counting the cracks in the sidewalk everywhere she went, in constant fear of breaking her mother's back. If she missed one crack or lost count, she had to go home and start all over again.
Over time, Tara's quirks changed — and multiplied. To calm herself, she arranged her food carefully on the plate, chatted with troll dolls, and recited prayers over and over. She didn't like behaving so oddly; she only knew she had to if she wanted to feel better.
Tara's troubles only got worse when, one day, she developed a new ritual: She kissed her fingers and touched a doorknob. . . .
Terry Spencer Hesser has written a funny, compelling, and sensitive story about a teenage girl afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the way it affects her relationships with friends and family.
During her preschool years, Tara Sullivan lived in terror that something bad would happen to her mother while they were apart. In grade school, she panicked during the practice fire drills. "Practice for what?, " Tara asked. For the upcoming disaster that was bound to happen? Then, at the age of 11, it happened. Tara heard the phrase that changed her life: "Step on a crack, break your mother's back." Before Tara knew it, she was counting every crack in the sidewalk. Over time, Tara's "quirks" grew and developed: arranging her meals on plates, nonstop prayer rituals, until she developed a new ritual wherin she kissed her fingers and touched doorknobs....
Short-listed for Iowa Teen Award 2002
Short-listed for Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award 2001
“The first novel for young adults that addresses Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). With approximately 1.5 million adolescents in the U.S affected, OCD is a pertinent issue to young readers. This story not only explores the confusion and fear experienced by 14-year-old Tara, but the anxiety and agony parents face when a child is suffering from OCD.”
Terry Spencer Hesser is a screenwriter and a documentary filmmaker. <i>Kissing Doorknobs</i> is based on her personal experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
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