All The Things That Could Go Wrong

Product Information

I was at my last school for 4 years and we had ********* book fairs every term – and every term, I was disappointed by the narrow range of books. Once forced together, these two sworn enemies discover that there is much more to each other than they ever knew. As time goes by, the boys end up working together on a raft-building project and a new empathy begins to develop as their relationship grows. An absorbing story about bullying and friendship crafted with the right balance of warmth and tension to engage readers in upper KS2. Alex has OCD, and is being bullied by Dan, who is desperately missing his brother (he's been sent to a young offenders institution).

Dan is a bully and he bullies Alex who has difficulties with stuff, like not wanting to touch stuff unless he has his gloves on. But I couldn't help feeling that the real bully was Sophie, the leader of Dan's gang, and we didn't get to understand what motivated her. The relationships he had with his Mum and Elliott felt particularly great in this respect, like they want him to feel better, but they also just want him to get on with playing his guitar or swapping footie stickers at lunchtime. The idea of their friendship blossoming from the raft Shooting Star was such a good symbol of the novel. Obviously, this scares the hell out of me every single day, but I cannot even imagine having those fears, multiply them by 100 (because I'm not actually diagnosed with OCD), AND having 4 bullies constantly picking on me and not being able to talk to anyone about it.I’ve never really wondered what it would be like to have OCD but this book shows you in a very real way. A thoroughly enjoyable read for readers aged 9-13 who love to read exciting stories about real life issues.

Overall this is a classic story with classic writing, but still good in showing a warmth that is successfully conveyed in an attractive way through the perspective of teenagers that are not patronizing.I had to wait ages to borrow it from the school library as it was always on loan, so I guess other children think it's good too. It’s a fantastic independent book seller that will actually be responsive and select appropriate books for you. His parents worry about the expense of a therapist, which is understandable, but Alex's OCD is problematic, causing him to be frequently late for school and damaging his hands and his school supplies from multiple washings.

His books have won multiple school and library awards and are recommended by Empathy Lab and Reading Well. Dan plays out his frustrations at school, messing around in class and finding easy targets at school to bully with his friends. Add to this the fact that Dan has to juggle different personalities when in different company and you end up with a highly complex character.I liked how they were described but I could imagine how annoying it would be, having your parents constantly tell you how good it would be to be friends with people you just don't want to be friends with. I thought Foster did a good job of trying to show the two sides of the situation, of both the bully and the bullied, and give them both some depth.

The actual moment that inspired the book came whilst I was being interviewed to teach at a school in Essex. It is so hard to imagine what life must be like for Alex, and I think it is very well portrayed in the book.Leaving the house is hard enough, but living in fear of the awful bullying at school makes life hard to bear for Alex.