You asked what I know about my treatment. So I’ll tell you all the stuff you already know. The drug is called ToZaPrex, which, according to the label, can cause, among other things, (1) decreased white blood cell count (which hinders the body’s ability to combat disease), (2) seizures, (3) severely low blood pressure, (4) dizziness, (5) trouble breathing, and (6) severe headaches.

She tells her kids that some shows on Netflix are broken because they are so effing annoying she cannot watch them. And does so with loving, concerned parents (who are actually in the picture and not just some blip on the radar!!!!), friends – both real and hallucinated – who will always be there, and a real high school romance that develops over months rather than the “insta” variety that made me feel as warm and fuzzy as a Taylor Swift song (well, before she went all batshit) . . . . This is a mental health novel (which are honestly my favorite books) following a teenage boy coping with his diagnosis of schizophrenia as he starts a new school. He begins to make connections with the new people at school, but fears of them learning of his schizophrenia.

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Said that, the story is simply mediocre. I didn't cry, I didn't feel bad or good for what was happening. Even boring, I must say.

It’s hard starting as a junior in a new school. It’s significantly more difficult to make friends when people know you see things you shouldn’t be able to see. aSecrecy |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85119431 |vJuvenile fiction. |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001687Kroll, Justin (March 27, 2018). " 'Lost in Space' Star Taylor Russell Joins Charlie Plummer in 'Words on the Bathroom Walls' (EXCLUSIVE)". variety.com . Retrieved March 28, 2018. Now that he knows about me, about the illness, things are different. He doesn’t know what to do with me anymore. We’ll still sit and watch TV, but I can almost hear him thinking when I’m in the room. The weirdest feeling, aside from seeing things that aren’t there, is sitting on the couch next to a grown man who is suddenly afraid of me. He didn’t used to be afraid. It’s hard not to take that personally. – Adam I didn’t tell her that they were twice the size of regular bats or that they had human eyes or that their tiny fangs hung like needles from their mouths. With the voices still pestering him, Adam becomes a good big brother to his half sister and gets accepted into culinary school.

Julia: Yes. So, yeah, I mean it’s true – not all of it. I started with a seed of my personality and my husband’s personality, but they’re swapped. Like, a lot of Adam’s characteristics are mine and a lot of Maya’s personality traits are my husband’s. So, that’s what I started with when I started building the characters, just in the very beginning. There are a lot of things that are completely different from the way my husband and I interact, but there were a few things from the beginning that were 100% him and 100% me – like Adam’s baking. At the time I was baking nearly every other day for my husband’s office when I was writing the rough draft. As for my husband, there was a line in the book about him being a robot – I’m going to misquote it now haha – and about being direct and saying exactly what you mean in the moment that you mean it. That’s something that my husband has always believed in. So, those characteristics were completely woven in throughout. But, I think that was it. It was just a way for me to build their characters. There are still certain things that are not like us, but there are some characteristics that I’ll look at and go “Oh, yeah that’s me.” I don’t have my driver’s license, and I have no intention of getting it anytime soon because it just seems like one more thing I have to figure out and be responsible for. And it’s just not worth it. aDating (Social customs) |vJuvenile fiction. |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009122883 Adam goes to a catholic school. I don’t think I’ve ever read a YA book where the main character attends catholic school? And it’s not like a couple lines, catholic school is a main part of the book that is examined and talked about in depth. I will say that this book doesn’t have a super positive outlook on Christianity (being agnostic this was a plus for me). While the points brought up are completely valid, if you don’t want to hear any criticism of Christianity, this might not be the book for you. Here’s the thing, Adam was a 6’2 cutie and found himself a cute little girlfriend, Maya. As much as he cared for her, he was too afraid that sharing his secret with her would take her away from him. She was put into the group of people who were never to learn his secret.

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In two weeks, I start my junior year at St. Agatha’s. It’s a K–12 school. My mom and Paul made the staff aware of my “condition,” and because it’s Catholic, they can’t exactly turn me away. That would be pretty hypocritical. From what I know about the guy, Jesus wouldn’t turn me away. Will the Wilmington film rebound continue in 2019?". Winston-Salem Journal. January 6, 2019 . Retrieved August 25, 2020. Imaginative writing and beautiful storytelling make this book an upbeat tale, but the message [of acceptance] is still driven home.”— VOYA

aSchizophrenia in adolescence |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh90001938 |vJuvenile fiction. |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001687 At my last school, I usually walked, but my mom insisted on driving me on my first day at St. Agatha’s. There was something manic in the way she drove, like she wanted it to be casual but she was way too nervous to actually pull that off. But when we finally got to the line of cars outside school, she just smiled and said, “Have a good day.” I could tell she wanted to kiss me goodbye, but once, when I was eight, I got mad at her for doing that in front of people, and she’s restrained herself ever since. I wish I hadn’t done that. I get it now. It's hard to let someone find you in all the dark and twisty places inside, but eventually, you have to hope that they do, because that's the beginning of everything.” His three regular 'visitors' often come at stressful times: Rebecca (new age hippie), Joaquin (the smutty best friend) and "The Bodyguards" (over-protective and often violent), as well as the deep, 'dark' threatening voice, which represents Adam's fears of the unknown.Julia: While I was writing it, I approached it with an open heart trying to make sure that I was doing good. You know, putting good out into the world. I wanted for people to see Adam as Adam, not just as schizophrenia. And I wanted people to love him – to love somebody who is flawed and to see the beauty in those flaws. Whoops. Not accurate. At all. What the book was about, I mean. There’s a very good chance my kid wrote that about me on a toilet stall.