cover image Highly Illogical Behavior

Highly Illogical Behavior

John Corey Whaley, read by Robbie Daymon and Julia Whelan. Listening Library, unabridged, 5 CDs, 6.5 hrs., $40 ISBN 978-0-7352-8579-8

Solomon Reed, 16, suffers from acute anxiety and agoraphobia and hasn’t left his house since a panic attack in seventh grade. His former classmate Lisa—an ambitious straight-A student, in need of a subject for a scholarship essay about mental illness, thrusts herself into Solomon’s life with a plan to “cure” him using some armchair cognitive behavior therapy. Solomon doesn’t think he needs saving (and doesn’t know about the essay), but he lets Lisa in, followed by her handsome boyfriend, Clark, who shares his interest in comic books, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and card games. Heartbreak ensues when Solomon falls for Clark. Voice actors Daymon and Whelan alternate reading chapters that focus on Solomon and those that focus on Lisa. Daymon captures Solomon’s awkward and eccentric personality, while Whelan adeptly communicates Lisa’s arrogance. Both actors add charm to Printz Award–winner Whaley’s quick-witted story with endearing, believably flawed teens. Ages 14–up. A Dial hardcover. (May)