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Beast – Margaret Wild

Jaime is superstitious and he’s also got obsessive compulsive disorder. He doesn’t know what he has; he only knows that if he doesn’t do certain repetitive things, he’ll have bad luck.

Every night, he dreams that a beast comes and looks in his window. He’s terrified that someday, the beast will break through and get him, and he adds more repetitive things to his to-do list each day, but that list is taking longer to get through and his compulsion is starting to upset his daily schedule. Despite the fact that he has a loving, supportive family, he doesn’t feel like he can tell them what he’s going through.

To make things even worse, Jaime is being bullied at school. Brendan seems to make it his goal to torment Jaime in every way he can, and Jaime spends his time doing everything he can to avoid Brendan. But one night while taking a walk, Jaime catches a glimpse of what Brendan’s home life is really like, and he starts to wonder if Brendan might just be human after all, but what cost will be paid before Brendan can come out of his own nightmare and begin to life his life like a human?

I liked this book for the look it gave me into the life of someone with OCD, the overwhelming need to wash or touch or perform other repetitive actions. I didn’t like it in that there was no diagnosis or help given to Jaime to overcome his disorder. I also felt that this book was targeted to the wrong audience. It’s on the junior fiction shelves at the library, but I felt the themes are too dark for a junior reader and would feel more comfortable recommending it to a young adult.

Overall, I found the story intriguing, and it’s not one I’ll forget any time soon.

(This book was published in 1992 by Scholastic.)

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