Maggie Sankhar is excited about starting middle school, but also worried: about making friends, getting through classes, and avoiding the reported monster on the school grounds. She tries to navigate by rolling a 20-sided die from her beloved role-playing games (RPGs) to help her make decisions or predict how things will go. At school, she soon makes a new friend, Clara, who suggests she join the school RPG club. Clara (who has two moms) also helps after realizing Maggie is experiencing anxiety attacks.
Maggie has fun at the club and seems to be fitting in (despite bullies elsewhere at school), and is especially excited about her science class, but continues to rely on her die and on repetitive habits like flicking light switches on and off a certain number of times. And she keeps hearing a dragon in her head criticizing her actions, even as she tries vainly to live up to her older sisters’ examples. One sister eventually suggests that Maggie might have OCD, and the supportive family encourages Maggie to see a therapist. She is reluctant, but ultimately agrees to do so and to let others help her in ways that are constructive and affirming.
Author Lee Durfey-Lavoie (who has depression and anxiety) and illustrator Veronica Agarwal (who has OCD) have created a lovely balance of words and images in Maggie’s story, knowing just what to show and what to tell. The compassionate depiction of one girl’s experience with OCD and the modeling of support make this a recommended title that readers with OCD and their families and friends may particularly appreciate.
Maggie and her family are South Asian. One of her sisters has a girlfriend, and the family is supportive of their relationship.
