Kissing Doornobs

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Summary: Kissing Doorknobs!*!*!
Review: "Kissing Doorknobs" is about a young girl named Tara who has OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). She goes through a lot in her life dealing with friends and family. She is having to deal with the fact that she knows something is wrong with her but she is not quite sure what. Tara goes through quite a few phases. For example, there is one point in her life that she prays for everyone aloud when they sin. She also goes through a major phase in her life with kissing dorknobs. That is the turning point of her OCD. She meets a teacher that has a student with OCD named Sam. Sam helps Tara by telling her who helped him get through his problems also. He tells her that the longer she waits the harder it is. Tara goes to the shrink and has to imagine her worst nightmares and face them. It is very difficult for Tara, but she survives.
I think this book is amazing. The author really did a good job making the reader feel sorry for Tara. It was so easy to feel bad when her mother was yelling at her. I got so into the book I was able to get upset at Tara's mother. I believe that in many books it is hard to get the personality of the person and in this book it was so easy to read Tara's personality. It also really helped me and I am sure other people about never giving up. I do not know what I would do in Tara's position. It would be so hard to deal with OCD. I really enjoyed this book. I highly reccomend it.

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Summary: Kissing Doorknobs: The Best Book I've Read This Year
Review: Step on a crack...break your mother's back...Imagine hearing that in your head all day long, seceretly counting all the cracks in the sidewalk as you walk home and becoming distanced from your friends. That's the beginning of the book Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer - Hasser, thyis beautifully written story is about a girl suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (better known as OCD) is the best book I've read all year. The story is written with such pure thought and accuracy to the disease and all through the story, you can't help but wonder what is going through the main character, Tara's head. The author tells you from the beginning symptoms of her disease to the diagnoses and even all the way through the treatment. I love the way that every detail is carefully put in the story in the exact right place. I also enjoy the way the story isn't just all talk about the disease. The whole time reading it, I was saying to myself "What the heck is going on?" and found the book impossible to put down. Anyone who enjoys books and that keep you wondering and amazed should read this book. I guarantee you'll love it as much as I did.

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Summary: this book is cool
Review: this book is very fun and it has nothin to do with kissing door kbos at all.

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Summary: Kissing Doorknobs
Review: Kissing Doorknobs is about a young girl named Tara who has OCD. It starts when she hears someone say "Step on a crack, break your mothers back." Once she heard that she started counting the cracks on the sidewalks wherever she went making sure that she didn't steep on a crack. Counting the cracks leads up to more things like saying prays and doing rituals. One of the rituals is kissing her thumb then touching the doorknob everytime she opened the door.
One thing I liked about this book was the way that Tara's sister stuck up for her whenever someone would make fun of Tara. It showed how much she cared for Tara and loved her.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books about real life things. I think anyone from young adults to adults would enjoy this book.

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Summary: This was an AWESOME book!!!
Review: Terry Spencer Hesser is an awesome author and she really knows how to make situations real. She made the novel "Kissing Doorknobs" a intresting story- also heartwarming. This book is about a girl named Tara facing OCD. Eveyone around Tara is falling apart because of her strange rituals-even her own family. Every time her mother swears she always prays and her mother hates it. Throughout the book Tara goes through many changes in her OCD.Such rituals include touching the doorknob and kissing her hand, countin cracks in the sidewalk and walking over every crack, having hideous thoughts that her mother or father were dead in a ditch somewhere. Whenever someone would make fun of Tara her little sister Greta would go beat them up for her. Greta got suspended about three time throughout the book.Tara has a bunch of friends. One of her friends is a evil person. Donna her friend smokes and shoplifts. Tara once tried to shoplift but she turned herself in. Towards the end of the book she meets a boy who has OCD too. She never knew anyone else had the same thing she had. Sam (the boy with OCD) introduces Tara to a therapist for OCD. Tara goes to therapy and stops her rituals. Sometimes she can't help but to them but other times she can stop herself. I think people of all ages should read this book because its has good facts in it. This novel also presents another exellent idea. You should never treat a person with OCD any different from another person. Tara's friends only treat Tara different when Tara was freaking out. If you want a good book to read go to your library and check out "Kissing Doorknobs" I guarentee that you won't want to put it down once you pick it up.

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Summary: Kissing Doorknobs
Review: Kissing Dorknobs is the story of a young girl growing up with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Like many children with OCD, the narrator's symptoms develop and change over time. When Tara enters kindergarten, she acts like most five-year-olds, except that within her she hides unusual fears that cause her great anxiety. Slowly her fears become apparent to those around her. During fire drills she cries, fearing that she will die without her family. Even with the constant assurance and support of her friends and family, Tara's fears and obsessions grow. On the surface, she has been able to behave like a normal girl. But when she is 11 years old, she hears a phrase that changes her life: Step on a crack, break your mother's back. Now, everywhere she goes, Tara must count every crack in the sidewalk. If she gets interrupted or loses her place, she has to go home and start all over again. As she gets older, her "habits" don't get better--they change and increase. She has to arrange her meals, recite prayers, and chat with her dolls, over and over again. Tara also begins to pray any time anyone uses profane language in an effort to keep them from going to hell. The harder Tara tries to control her thoughts, the worse they get. Eventually Tara develops a habit in which she touches the doorknob and kisses her hand thirty-three times every time she goes in or out the door. They are a source of bafflement to herself, her friends and parents and become profoundly disruptive to her personal and school life. Tara does not understand what is happening to her and is ashamed and fearful that she is "crazy". She becomes secretive and tries to hide her rituals from others. Similarly, her parents worry that Tara is indeed crazy and make every attempt to prevent her from engaging in her rituals. This results in an escalating sequence of family arguments and occasional physical violence between Tara and her mother. Visits to several psychiatrists result in little or no benefit and Tara accumulates an assortment of "diagnoses." Finally, a teacher recognizes that Tara has symptoms similar to those of a student with OCD. Tara is introduced to the boy in question and to his therapist who prescribes exposure and response prevention, a form of behavior therapy. The story ends on a hopeful note for Tara who begins therapy and learns to take control of the "tyrants" in her head. But Tara's friend is simultaneously in the midst of a relapse, highlighting the ongoing battle that most individuals must wage against this illness. Since the author has suffered from OCD herself, the book includes a lot of factual information. It not only portrays the effect of the disease on Tara, but also on her family and friends. The author includes other issues (anorexia, pregnancy, and alcoholism) that affect Tara's friends. This gives the reader a needed break and shows that everyone has their own demons to battle.

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Summary: Wish there were more.....
Review: When I first saw this book I couldn't wait to read it until I realized it wasn't a true account. I wish there were more true accounts of OCD sufferers. I enjoyed the book, but did find at times it got a little stale and repetitive.

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Summary: A Truly Touching Book
Review: In the novel, Kissing Doorknobs, by Terry Spencer Hesser, a young girl becomes obsessed with the phrase "step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back". This phrase is the start of Tara's obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. The phrase echoes in her mind every second until, in order to be normal in her own mind and to protect her mother, she must count the cracks in the sidewalk to and from school.
Life soon becomes a nightmare for her. To alleviate her fear and worry, she must count everything, from Kate Moss's eyelashes to window slats, rearrange her food so it is neat, and make sure that everything is balanced. For example, if she tapped her right foot, she would then have to tap her left foot. On the way to school she counts cracks and cannot be interrupted or else she must start again and vent her growing panic and frustration on the interrupter, even if it is one of her best friends. Soon this and her other odd habits, such as praying for people if they curse or do something wrong and her hours of confession, causes stress on her parent's relationship and the people she interacts with, straining friendships. In an effort to cure her daughter of these odd quirks, yet not knowing it is OCD, her mother tries to make her associate these habits with pain to help her daughter get over these rituals that dominate her life, her grades, and her happiness.
This novel combines humor with a serious disorder and a girl's struggle to overcome a disease that has taken control of her mind and her life. As she proceeds from her original state of counting cracks, people begin to make fun of her and even in her aloneness, her sister, Greta, defends her in an act of pure love without regard to the consequences. Tara thinks that she is absolutely going crazy until she meets Sam, a boy who is OCD about germs. Through therapy he has gotten his life back and it is then that Tara realizes that she is not alone and she can overcome this as well.
I would highly recommend this novel; it makes the reader aware that everyone is human and has thoughts and feelings. This book shows us not to judge others and includes lessons about life. This is the first book that I have read in a long time that actually makes you sympathize with the character and connects you to her life even if you are not OCD.
Read this book and let it teach you about the issues of a complicated disease from the eyes of the one who is suffering. The part of this novel that makes it outstanding is the time spent researching this disorder and making sure that Tara's feelings were accurate. Hesser truly gets you to relate to the character's feelings of distress and loneliness. This book will open your eyes to see that no matter how impossible life seems at times, there will always be a rainbow at the end of the storm.

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Summary: Rachel's Review
Review: This book tells the life of a girl with OCD named Tara. It goes into major detail of the outbreaks she has. It tells what it is like for her and how she misses being normal. My favorite part is in the end when her friend Sam has an outbreak. She tells him she will help him through it. She is strong for him even though she doesn't know how to be strong for herself. If you like to know how and why things happen to people then you will enjoy this book. But if you don't, then you won't enjoy it as much. I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot. A good lesson was don't tease people for being different they may not have a choice.

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Summary: helped me get over OCD
Review: this was a great book. two years ago, when I was 11, i had OCD really badly, but i didn't know at the time. I knew something was wrong with me but i couldn't explain how i was feeling. I was treated for other disorders so my OCD got worse and worse. I read this book and i could totally relate to the main character. I told my mom that she had the same feeling that i had, the feeling i could not explain for so long. My mom regonized that i had OCD and i got treated for it. My life is 100% better without out repeating numbers in my head and obsessing over small things. This book helped me regonize my problem and i have it to thank for helping me. It also gave me something to relate to. Then i knew i wasn't the only person in the world with these feelings.