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The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten teaches about and describes OCD, a very important mental health issue. This book also provides the reader with well developed characters and a mystery to solve. Toten has created a unique, humorous and fast-paced story that will entertain and educate at the same time.
Title: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13BAuthor: Teresa Toten
Also by this author: Beware That Girl
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Rating:
Two-time Governor General's Award nominee Teresa Toten is back with a compulsively readable new book for teens!
When Adam meets Robyn at a support group for kids coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is drawn to her almost before he can take a breath. He's determined to protect and defend her--to play Batman to her Robyn--whatever the cost. But when you're fourteen and the everyday problems of dealing with divorced parents and step-siblings are supplemented by the challenges of OCD, it's hard to imagine yourself falling in love. How can you have a "normal" relationship when your life is so fraught with problems? And that's not even to mention the small matter of those threatening letters Adam's mother has started to receive . . .
Teresa Toten sets some tough and topical issues against the backdrop of a traditional whodunit in this engaging new novel that readers will find hard to put down.
Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten
❀ Powerful Topics
The book addresses some powerful topics, such as OCD and divorce. Teresa Toten depicts precisely and accurately through her characters what it’s like to deal with these issues. The characters undergo stress and challenges is their everyday lives and learn how to manage it through a support group. Teresa Toten has included several links at the back of her book regarding OCD and comprehending it.
❀ Well-Developed Characters
The characters in this story are developed in such a way that readers will feel like they know the characters personally. Another enjoyable aspect of this book is how the characters are given superhero names based on their personalities. For example, the main character, Adam, is Batman because he tries to save everyone and protect them. This idea is very unique and gives the issues being dealt with a fun side to them.
❀ Plot Twists
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten is perfect for fans of OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu. There are two characters with OCD that fall in love. To spice things up, the author adds threatening letters sent to the main character’s mom and the element of mystery. These plot twists make the book a completely different type of read.
About Teresa Toten
My earliest and most fervent ambition was to grow up and take my rightful place among the other mermaids. When cruel and insensitive adults crushed that dream by insisting that mermaids did not exist, I settled on the more mature aspiration of becoming an intergalactic astronaut. Then I realized that math would likely be involved. So, in the end, I went to Trinity College at the University of Toronto where I got a BA and then an MA in Political Economy taking great care not to take a single English or Creative Writing class. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was never ever going to be a writer. That would be silly, fanciful and well, unrealistic. And then I started to write...
About The Candid Cover
Olivia ❀ Canadian YA book blogger, Starbucks lover, & professional bibliophile.