Zelah Green

Vanessa Curtis

$7.99

Publication Date: October 1st, 2011

Publisher:

Egmont UK

ISBN:

9781405255059

Pages:

250

Description

A prizewinning story of a girl whose serious OCD starts to take over her life, how she conquers it with help and humor, and the friends with their own troubles whom she meets along the way "My Name is Zelah Green and I'm a cleanaholic. I spend most of my life running away from germs. And dirt. And people. And I'm just about doing okay and then my stepmother packs me off to some kind of hospital to live with a bunch of strangers. It's stuck in the middle of nowhere. Great. There's Alice who's anorexic. Caro who cuts herself. Silent Sol who has the cutest smile. And then there's me." Zelah's candid voice allows serious issues to be explored with empathy. With wonderful humor supplementing the emotional heart, this story presents real problems for teenagers while never being being heavy-handed.

About the Author

Vanessa Curtis is a freelance journalist, the author of The Hidden Houses of Virginia Woolf and Virginia Woolf's Women, and the coeditor of the Virginia Woolf Bulletin. Her first book for children, Zelah Green, won the Manchester Children's Book Award and appeared on the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize shortlist.

Praise for Zelah Green

"With her light touch, convincing dialogue and sparky humour, [Curtis] makes self-harm, anorexia, attempted suicide, depression, cancer and alcoholism all palatable for a young audience without being patronising or employing self-improvement gobbledygook. She also makes it funny." —Scotland on Sunday

"reluctant readers will enjoy Zelah’s conversational style, which keeps serious issues on the lighter side."—Booklist

"a highly accessible story with appeal for reluctant readers." —School Library Journal

"unique, fast and grabbing...a great way to spend an afternoon."—"Shut Up! I'm Reading" blog