2024 Eisner-Nominated for Best Publication for Kids • A 2024 ALA Notable Children’s Book • New York Public Library Best Book of 2023

★ “Heartwarming [and] authentic” —Shelf Awareness, starred review

A moving middle grade graphic novel about friendship, belonging, and learning to love yourself despite the voices in your head.

Isaac Itkin can’t get away from his thoughts.

As a lonely twelve-year-old kid with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), everything from studying to looking in the mirror becomes a battle between him and a swarm of unhelpful thoughts.

The strict therapy his mother insists on doesn’t seem to be working, but when a group of friends invites him to join their after-school role-playing game, the thoughts feel a little less loud, and the world feels a little brighter.

But Isaac’s therapist says that exposure to games can have negative effects on kids with OCD, and when his grades slip, his helicopter mother won’t let him play anymore. Now Isaac needs to find a way to prove to himself, to his mother, and to the world that the way to quiet the noise in his head may have been inside him all along.

Goodreads

$12.99

$16.99 CAD

Format

Format:

Trade Paperback $12.99 $16.99 CAD
ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD
Hardcover $24.99 $30.99 CAD

Also available from:

Samuel Sattin

About the Author

Samuel Sattin is a writer and coffee addict. In May of 2022, he launched a Kickstarter with the artist team Gurihiru for Unico: Awakening in coordination with Tezuka Productions in Japan. He is also the writer of Buzzing, and the forthcoming history of roleplaying games, Side Quest. He adapted the Academy Award-nominated Cartoon Saloon Irish Folklore Trilogy (WolfWalkers, Song of the Sea, and The Secret of Kells) to graphic novel format, has written screenplays for PBS, and previously wrote books such as Bezkamp, Legend, and The Silent End. His nonfiction work has appeared or been featured in The Nib, The Atlantic, NPR, and elsewhere. He graduated with an MFA in comics from California College of the Arts and a creative writing MFA from Mills College, freelances in animation development, and works as a studio writer for Schulz Creative Associates, aka Snoopy Central. He currently resides in Northern California.

Patrick Macias is the editor in chief of Otaku USA magazine, the founding editor of Crunchyroll News, and the author of numerous books about Japanese pop culture including TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion. In addition to contributing liner notes to the Criterion Collection and Arrow Video, he also wrote the original story for the anime series URAHARA which was simulcast globally in 2017. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Patrick now lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Learn more about this author

Buzzing (A Graphic Novel)

Format

Format:

Also available from:

Samuel Sattin

About the Author

Rye Hickman

About the Author

Formats and Prices

Price

Price

Format

Format:

Also available from:

You May Also Like

Samuel Sattin

About the Author

Rye Hickman

About the Author