Kissing Doorknobs

I read the book Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser. It is about a girl named Tara Sullivan who is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. (OCD) I chose to read this book because I had heard about OCD before and wanted to learn more about it. No one knows that Tara has OCD, so her friends and family think she is crazy. Her OCD starts when she hears the phrase "Step on a crack, break your mother's back." When she heard it, every day when she walked to school, she had to count all of the cracks. If she lost count or was distracted, she would have to go back home and start over. Tara's friends stop hanging out with her. Her parents fight because they don't know what is wrong with their daughter. Kids laugh at Tara's habits and her little sister Greta is willing to beat up anybody that picks on her and was suspended many times for that. One day, one of Tara's dad's friends comes over because he thinks he knows what Tara has. The man gives Tara's parents a name of a psychiatrist who works with kids who have OCD. The doctor helps Tara overcome her OCD and introduced her to another kid with OCD named Sam. Tara and Sam start to develop a relationship, but things start to take a turn for the worse... "But I couldn't not think the thoughts. And I couldn't not count the cracks." (Kissing Doorknobs, pg. 3) Every time Tara starts a new ritual, she can't stop. She can't get the thought out of her mind and they only get worse. I think this book was very well-written because it explains all of the hard-ships people with OCD go through. I would recommend this book to people who know people with OCD, people who have OCD, and people who want to helps others suffering from OCD. Heather H. Ms. Bennett Period 1