Monday, March 7, 2022

The Thing I’m Most Afraid Of by Kristin Levine - OPTIONAL

The Thing I’m Most Afraid Of by Kristin Levine, 368 pages. Putnam’s (Penguin), 2021. $18

Content: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

12yo Becca is virtually crippled by anxiety, but her mom is flying with her to Austria, where Becca can spend the summer with her father.  Accompanied by all of her Doomsday journals, where she writes all of her fears and possible solutions, Becca hopes she and her dad will have fun together.  But now she has his girlfriend, the girlfriend’s 13yo son, and an au pair who is a Bosnian refugee. Becca, Felix, and Sara each make a list of things they want to conquer that summer (eat a soft boiled egg?)– but planning for every eventuality doesn’t mean that you can brainstorm all of the ways your life may take shape.

Set in the summer of 1993, this is kind of historical fiction, especially when Sara’s passport gets stolen and she is taken into custody.  But the framework for Becca’s life is her anxiety and I am just tired of 12yo girl characters having anxiety as their main character trait. I can only take so much of this tired trope. I have plenty of books about girls – plenty.

Book was loaned from libro.fm for an honest review; narrated by Chelsea Kwoka

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS


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