Not As Crazy As I Seem - Softcover

George Harrar is the author of several novels and numerous short stories, one of which was chosen for the 1999 edition of The Best American Short Stories. Harrar lives in Wayland, Massachusetts, with his wife, Linda, a documentary filmmaker.

Grade 6-10-Devon Brown, 15, may be anxious, even weird, but he knows he's not crazy. He just has a fixation on the number four, an obsession about germs, and an intolerance of untidiness, all of which have afflicted him since his grandfather's death when he was eight. When his parents decide to move to the Boston area, the teen must adjust to a new private school and a new therapist. In a frank and humorous first-person narrative, he relates his midyear entrance into The Baker Academy as he copes with opinionated teachers and tentatively begins friendships with Tanya, an African-American girl, and Ben, an angry, purple-haired boy, but he shies away when they try to get closer. Despite his intelligence, Devon has a remarkable lack of self-knowledge. The crisis comes after he sees Ben spray paint the epithet "Nazi" throughout the school and takes the blame himself. It strains credulity that even in the face of his parents' profound disappointment, the harsh words of the headmaster, and two weeks' suspension, Devon refuses to implicate Ben, who is not a close friend. In a cathartic spree, he rips up the neatly buttoned shirts in his closet until his formerly distant father comes in and wraps his arms around his son, and Devon confesses he feels responsible for his grandfather's death. The positive news is that Devon can use his willpower, not a pill, to overcome his compulsive behaviors, and a rosy reunion with Tanya wraps up a novel that may have bibliotherapeutic potential.
Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT
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