In the emotionally raw yet hopeful middle-grade graphic novel Exposures: A Story About Life with OCD and the Power of Facing Your Fears, Lily Williams (Go with the Flow) draws on her personal experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to portray its agonizing effects and the results that can come from exposure and response prevention therapy.
Blonde, pale-skinned, 12-year-old Peyton hides her scary, intrusive thoughts from her "perfect twin" sister, Taylor, and their doting parents because she's convinced she's "crazy." Flashbacks reveal the rituals (compulsions) Peyton developed over the years to self-soothe, including counting, skin picking, and avoiding red (the "color of blood"). When Peyton has a severe panic attack, her mother contacts Anna, a therapist who diagnoses Peyton with OCD. Anna helps Peyton train her brain to accept uncertainty and to curtail compulsions by exposing her to her fears through repeated exercises. After treatment, Peyton no longer sees herself as the "bad twin" with a "broken" brain, nor does she feel defined by her OCD: "I want to be me."
Williams's refreshing representation of OCD depicts the complex layers of various OCD subtypes. Peyton's mental health journey is inspiring for its realism, including reminders from Anna that "progress isn't linear" and that there will be painful setbacks. Williams's expressive illustrations convey the emotional intensity of living with OCD: Peyton's intrusive thoughts break the panels' borders and balloon to overtake the page. Exposures is a tough but validating graphic novel that will likely resonate with readers of Buzzing by Samuel Sattin and Rye Hickman or Guts by Raina Telgemeier. --Cristina Iannarino, children's book buyer, Books on the Square, Providence, R.I.