The Best Worst Thing

Starred review from March 21, 2016
“Sometimes I wonder when the me I am right now will get covered up by a bigger me, and I wonder who the bigger me will be,” worries 11-year-old Maggie. Why doesn’t her older sister play with her anymore? What will happen to the baby rabbits next door? Why isn’t her father ever home? Will the school bully get a gun? These are just a few of the questions, big and small, that consume Maggie’s anxious mind in debut author Lane’s emotionally intense coming-of-age story. After a random shooting at a nearby convenience store, Maggie’s mind goes into overdrive. Many chapters are only a page long and read like a growing prayer list as Maggie
ritualistically soothes her racing mind: “Front door locked, kitchen door locked.... Please don’t let anyone kill anyone or anything, please don’t let anyone kill anyone or anything.” Though there are no tidy beginnings or endings in Maggie’s swirling first-person narrative, Lane crafts a powerful portrait of a girl wrangling with deeply relatable concerns, which will easily resonate with readers confronting a complex and uncertain world. Ages 8–12. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency.

April 15, 2016
Scary things are happening, but Maggie can protect everyone if she gets her ritualized recitations right."It's the night we're going to get murdered so we're sleeping on the living room floor," she opens her narration. There's just been a murder nearby, and the suspect is uncaptured. Mom and Dad aren't worried, but anxiety and dread are big inside Maggie. Vulnerable baby bunnies next door are being raised for a restaurant; a classmate's expecting a gun for his 12th birthday and seems likely to use it; and the murderer could be close by. Lane's prose is quietly powerful, plain yet poetic: "my stomach doesn't want me to go outside." Tormented with intrusive visualizations of violence, Maggie holds her breath for counts of 60 and always recites her not-quite-prayer pleas twice each: "Please don't let Gordy or the murderer kill us or anyone, please don't let Gordy or the murderer kill us or anyone." Things are scary, though Maggie also clearly has OCD or a like illness (never named); readers feel her anxiety and burden through her compulsory rituals, which will "keep us all from dying and keep the baby bunnies safe." Maggie and her environment are presumably white; nonwhite allusions like "teepee eyebrows" are used as flavor, while two evidently black classmates are used as a historical desegregation reference, much to Maggie's discomfort.A tender, sober portrait of a middle schooler with OCD. (Fiction. 9-13)

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Starred review from March 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-Right after 11-year-old Maggie and her two sisters return from the neighborhood Mini Mart, they learn it was robbed and the cashier shot and killed. The murderer fled on foot down Elm Street-Maggie's street! In the days following the crime, she imagines the killer in her house and checks the doors, under the beds, and in closets several times each night. Middle school brings more anxiety as she experiences other situations that are out of her control. Her best friend begins to hang out with the popular girls, a bully from her class is turning 12 and receiving his first gun (which she worries he may use on her if he gets mad enough), and her older neighbor who raises rabbits sells the "leftover" ones to the market for food. Maggie becomes increasingly dependent on performing routines and rituals to ease her anxiety; she counts to herself repeatedly while making sure things are evenly numbered. Lane interlaces a minor character, Gordy Morgan the bully, into the plot with finesse, offering a nuanced depiction instead of a mere archetype. The protagonist is able to use the strength she finds in a budding friendship to foster a positive change in her perspective of the world. Not only can this book serve as bibliotherapy for those with obsessive-compulsive disorder and high anxiety, but readers of all kinds will also find much here to ponder and discuss. VERDICT Thoughtful characterization and relatable themes make this a strong purchase.-D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2016
Grades 5-8 It starts with robbery and murder at the convenience store. Middle-schooler Maggie is worried that the killer, on the loose, will come to their house. But worrying isn't new, and Maggie has devised a contingent of obsessive-compulsive strategies to cope with her fears. Among those nagging issues are the news that her bully neighbor, Gordy, is going to get a gun for his twelfth birthday; her parents' unsettled relationship; and the fate of the adorable bunnies living next door that are set to be sold for meat. Lane writes in short, air-tight chapters that sometimes keep the action inside Maggie's head; other times the view is wider ranging, as when Maggie climbs a tree to see (and in one final incident, do) more. The upbeat ending is a bit hurried and not entirely in synch with the rest of the book, but Lane writes beautifully throughout. The scene where Maggie observes her mother providing Gordy with sustenance and solace is a vignette that captures her craftsmanship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
The Mini Mart "checkout lady" was shot, and the killer escaped down Maggie's street. Maggie, already on edge about starting middle school, becomes more worried knowing that tough-kid classmate-neighbor Gordy is getting a gun for his birthday. Life goes on, though, as Maggie deals with ordinary adolescent problems. Homey first-person narration keeps readers engaged in Maggie's story--and don't worry, the murderer gets caught.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2016
The book begins with report of a murder: the friendly "checkout lady" at the neighborhood Mini Mart was shot during a botched robbery, and the killer escaped down Maggie's family's street. Maggie, already on edge about starting middle school, becomes even more worried, especially knowing that her tough-kid classmate-neighbor, Gordy Morgan, is getting a gun for his twelfth birthday. Life goes on, though, as Maggie deals with ordinary adolescent problems: changing friendships, middle-sister woes (high-spirited younger sister; moody, religious older sister), confusing parents (Mom's perpetually on a diet, Dad's cheerful but clueless). But people aren't always what they seem: take Gordy, who sleeps outside his house and once came over crying. Maggie herself tends to zone out ("Mom, Maggie's frozen again!") and compulsively repeats things in her head: "Kitchen window closed, basement door closed, living room windows closed, sliding glass door lockedPlease don't let Gordy or the murderer kill us or anyone, please don't let Gordy or the murderer kill us or anyone" Homey first-person narration along with brief chapters, some just a headline ("Wait. Gordy Morgan reads books?"), set a deliberate pace and keep readers engaged in Maggie's story -- and don't worry, the murderer gets caught. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)