The Symptoms of My Insanity
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
For fans of Louise Rennison, Sarah Mlynowski, and Stephanie Perkins comes a laugh-out-loud, bittersweet debut full of wit, wisdom, heart, and a hilarious, unforgettable heroine.
It's kind of crazy how you can pay so much attention to yourself and still not see a thing.
Izzy is a hypochondriac with enormous boobs that won't stop growing, a mother with a rare disease who's hiding something, a best friend who appears to have undergone a personality transplant, and a date with an out-of-her-league athlete who just spilled Gatorade all over her. Yes, Izzy Skymen has a hectic life. But what Izzy doesn't realize is that these are only minor symptoms of life's insanity. When she discovers that the people she trusts most are withholding from her the biggest secrets, things are about to get epic -- or is it epidemic?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Izzy struggles with boys who make rude comments about her curvy shape and a critical mother who tells her "your body delivers a very specific message, whether you want it to or not." She has other problems, too, including her mother's cancer, an important art scholarship deadline, and cute but confusing Blake, who makes her wonder if she's his "Art Friend or Girlfriend." Izzy's problems come to a head when Blake takes a revealing photo of her, which quickly goes viral at school; at the same time, Izzy's mother has to have emergency surgery and may die. Izzy finally expresses her feelings, both face-to-face and through her art. Despite Izzy's lovably neurotic nature, readers may tire of tracking the overwhelming number of problems in her life, especially when some of these problems, like her hypochondria, seem scripted to make a point ("If I was sick... Mom could concentrate on something about me that's potentially fixable"). Even so, readers will likely appreciate a refreshing upheaval of mean-girl stereotypes when the other girls at school come up with a creative solution to at least one of Izzy's problems. Ages 12 up.