Title: A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie
Author: Matt Blackstone
Publication: (2011)
ISBN 978-0-374-3642-12
Format: Paperback (254 pages) Advanced Reader's Copy
Rating: One
Fourteen-year-old Rene Fowler can't pick up a face-down coin, or move a muscle if the time adds up to thirteen (7:42 is bad luck becasue 7 + 4 + 2 = 13), or wash his body parts in the wrong order. If he does, Rene or someone close to him will get left back in school, break a bone, fall into a come, contract a deadly virus, and /or die a slow and painful death like someone in a scary scene in a scary movie. Or worse.
My knowledge of OCD comes from some books, both fiction and non-fiction, and True Life. My knowledge on what goes on in a fourteen-year-old boy's head is somewhere between nothing and nil. The most I can brag about the second one comes from young adult books. Saying that I have to say that Rene has the maturity of a very slow five year old.
The character is supposed to have obsessive compulsive disorder but I would not be surprised if he had ADHD or ADD to varying degrees.
Beside the fact that I did not like Rene at all was the plot. Or should I say the lack of one. This is my interpretation of the book: If you don't like your home life run away because when you finally do call for help everyone will treat you like a hero. Rene's OCD was not mentioned, discussed, or even hinted at through out the entire book so I found myself forgetting the reason that I was supposed to let him get away with acting like the mayor of idiotville.
However, while the characters and plot were not anywhere near what I had been hoping for I liked the idea of the book if not the execution. I like learning about common disorders and OCD is something almost everybody has even if it is not as severe as others. I have read a few books with the same idea behind it and while the main characters did bug me at times I found them endearing in their own way.
My advice is to check out the other books before you go with this one. That way you know whether or not you can deal with anyone as annoying as Rene.
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