Review: Where's My Wand: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting

by Eric Poole
Memoir (May 27, 2010)

My Synopsis

Hilarious memoir about the author's life growing up with a mom who was an obsessive clean-freak, a dad who gladly let her wear the pants, and the author's desire to wear her dress. Or something like that.

My Thoughts

I saw this book highlighted in People magazine and then read The Girl from the Ghetto's review , and I had to get it. Since I've been reading so many depressing memoirs lately, I was ready for some humor. So ready, in fact, that I spent full price on it at Borders. $24.95 plus tax. (Why is it that when I have a coupon I don't want a book, and when I want a book I don't have a coupon?)

Murphy's Law - which also applies to the above coupon dilemma - says that if I buy a book at full price I usually end up hating it. But this one was good. Some people may find the one liners a bit much, but it was just what I needed.

Eric Poole is from St. Louis, and I had fun reading about his high school, his hometown (Florissant), the street he lived on, and the local hospital where my son was born. It felt homey :) But besides that, the stories he told were hilarious. My favorite story was when he and his sister went camping with their aunt and found out they had to poop where the bears poop. Poole also makes fun of his gay-ness, his mom's OCD-fueled rants to keep the shag carpet raked at all times, and his unpopularity in school. Really, you can't help but laugh.

He has been mentioned along the likes of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs. I agree with the Augusten Burroughs comparison; Sedaris I have not yet read (I know, I know...accepting title recommendations in comments).

Do I Recommend?

Yes

Source

I bought my copy from Borders.

My Rating

4/5 (I enjoyed it)

Other reviews

The Girl from the Ghetto

Beth Fish Reads - Not a review but she highlights it here

Review: Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD

by Beth Alison Maloney
Published September 2009

My Synopsis

True story of a mom's struggle to find help for her 12-year-0ld son who has sudden-onset OCD.

My Thoughts

I've read every "Saving somebody" book there is, except Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt. There was Saving Gracie, Saving Cinnamon and now Saving Sammy. How funny is that?

This book was fabulous.

Twelve-year-old Sammy suddenly acquires all sorts of strange compulsions and rituals he must perform, most of them taking hours to complete. It takes him an hour to go in and out of the house, and getting in and out of the car takes another hour. He has to jump and spin and hop before moving forward. Then come the vocal tics. His mother and two brothers deal with his OCD for an entire year before finding out that it was caused by a non-symptomatic strep infection, determined by a simple blood test. A year! A year of daily two-hour crying outbursts and numerous doctor appointments, several which had to be canceled because Sammy could not get in the car. He didn't shower, wore the same clothes for weeks, rarely slept, and went through periods where he refused to eat. He dropped out of school and was tutored at home.

I worked in Psychiatry for 15 years and this is the sickest child I've ever seen or read about. Obviously he couldn't function, nor could his mother, who was a single mom to three boys. She did everything in her power to find help for Sammy. She finally figured out - through her mother's friend and her own research - that Sammy had a condition called PANDAS, caused by strep, and his OCD could be helped. It's amazing what a mother's love and determination can do.

Loved the writing, the emotion, the story, the advocating-for-your-child message...everything.

Do I Recommend?

Absolutely. Don't miss it if you have a child with OCD; but you'll also enjoy this if you have a special needs child or are interested in medicine or psychology/psychiatry.

Source

I won this wonderful book from Sheila at Book Journey. Thank you, Sheila.

My Rating

5/5

Other reviews

Red Lady's Reading Room
Book Journey
Bibliophile by the Sea
Book Chatter
Rundpinne