Every time I load laundry into the dryer, I turn my head away from the machine before pressing the start button. This is so if the machine explodes, my face won't be burned and my head will instead hit the laundry room door hard. Somehow, this will protect me. I don't know why. I If I don't do it, I have to distract myself until the cycle is done. Every time I start a new load of laundry in the wash, I have to look down to check for flooding. Something might pop loose. Please don't ask about my thoughts on the hot water heater. I don't heat up water on the stove past nine pm unless I've opened the window. I don't open up the window in the daytime, for reasons even sillier than the ones I've listed.

I have the same mental illness that Monica, this book's protagonist, has. I'm in therapy, and I'm not open about having OCD. People just figure it out somehow. I don't read books about characters that have mental illnesses that I have. I have a few. I live with them. I don't need to see them in fiction. But I remembered this book, and bought myself a copy. Janet Tashjian deserves a ton of awards for her portrayal of an illness that is seen as both setup and punchline to society at large. It was a choice both clever and moving to have Monica not yet be in high school. A ton of people don't think kids can have this. -Diagnosis- usually doesn't happen until the age of eighteen, but that's not the issue. I had to set this book down a few times while reading it. As a tween, my thinking was: I know I'm weird like Monica, but I can't do anagrams so I don't have whatever she has. I was diagnosed with OCD as an adult and given much clearer information: anagrams aren't part of it. Here, they're a clever device used as chapter transitions, characterization, and even plot points. I'm glad magical thinking was shown. I liked how the book was written. ( )

Booktalk draft: Monica has made up a game that only she plays. It's called multiple choice. She's just been invited to a party and choice #10 has 4 options: read p 84. Monica makes her choice by pulling one of four Scrabble letter tiles out of a little bag (bring Scabble tiles). And whatever letter she's chosen, ABC or D is what she has to do, no matter what. Even if it means wearing her pajamas to school. Monica had to make up this game because she is a perfectionist who obsesses about saying and doing the right things. When her obsessing starts to get out of control, playing multiple choice helps Monica feel better. And the game works...until Monica draws a letter for a choice that...(finish).

In an effort to become more "spontaneous," Monica devises a Multiple Choice device using Scrabble letters. She thinks this will help her make more interesting decisions. But her obsessive behavior patterns force her to slavishly follow the dictates of her game - with increasingly dangerous consequences. Well-written, and compelling (pun intended). Teens respond to this realistic look at a common behavior problem, and also benefit from the examination of choices and possible results. ( )

I'm surprised I haven't heard of this author before now; based on the questions at the back of the book it sounds like she has written several novels before this one. Monica Devon is a perfectionist to the point that her desire to always do the right thing and make the correct choice start to affect her ability to just enjoy life. Her solution to decision making, which she devises about halfway through the book, is to use four Scrabble tiles linked to four choices, and randomly draw one from a bag. A is always a normal choice, and something she might have done anyway. B is something completely absurd or zany, C is something mean and out of character, and D is something charitable or generous. At first, making decisions this way seem to provide freedom from worrying, and she actually enjoys the game, but later she follows the rules of the multiple choice game during a time when she should have trusted her intelligence and instincts, and a serious accident occurs as a result. How Monica deals with those consequences, and how she figures out who she wants to be make up the remainder of a great book. Any adolescent who has spent time obsessively worrying will be able to empathize with her plight. The story is easy to read and engages the reader from the first page to the last. ( )