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How old was the narrator when she first heart the annoing rhyme that she couldn't get out of her head? What was the rhyme?
She was eleven when she heard Step on a crack, break your mother's back!
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How old is the narrator now?
She is now fourteen years old.
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Describe the narrator. What term does her mother use to describe her?
She's tall and blonde. She is a worrywart according to her mother. She has good grades and is smart. She is funny. She has a lot of allergies and anxieties.
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What is Tara doing on her way to school when she is interrupted by Emily?
She is counting the cracks in the sidewalk when Emily interrupts her.
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In what city does Tara live?
She lives in a suburb of Chicago.
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After Tara manages to get away from Mrs. Scott, where does she go? Why?
Tara goes to her front porch to pull herself back together.
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What is the nightmare that Tara repeatedly has?
She's playing with her friends when a giant monster pops out from behind a white house a block away. Her friends fun and scream, but Tara can't move or run.
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When did Tara meet Kristin, Keesha, and Anna?
She met them in kindergarten.
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What did Tara dread in elementary school?
She dreaded the disaster drills.
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How did Tara punish her parents for not allowing her to sleep in their bed?
She rolls under their bed and when her parents got nervous, she didn't come out.
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Why are Tara's tests rarely finished?
She has to make sure everything is perfectand make sure she really thought about the questions.
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After learning about drug abuse at school, what did Tara learn about her mother? How does Tara react to this news?
She learns that her mother tried smoking pot. Tara freaks out and assumers her mother abuses it. So, she starts spying on her mother.
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What would Tara do if anone swore in her presence?
She prays when she hears them swear.
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When Tara sees the psychiatrist, what is his diagnosis?
He says she's insecure and has self-esteem problems.
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Who came to Tara's rescue when a new girl at school began making fun of her?
Her sister, Greta, comes to her rescue.
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What did Greta do to Paulo?
She beats Paulo up. She hits him and punches him.
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When the girls were discussing how people will perceive them in life, what was Tara doing?
She was counting Kate Moss' eyelashes.
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How does Tara's behavior affect her parents' relationship?
Her parents argue a lot, trying to figure out what to do with her. Her parents ventually try to find ways to stay out of the house.
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What does Tara do that makes her parents send her to another psychiatrist?
Her neighbor calls Tara's mom to tell her about Tara's ritual when her parents were out. Tara's mom gets her to another psychiatrist.
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What diagnosis does the second psychiatrist make?
He says its attention defecit disorder and immaturaty.
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Why is Tara's friend Kristin hospitalized?
She is hospitalized for anorexia.
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Why doesn't Tara spend much time with Anna anymore?
Anna plays for a volleyball team and doesn't have much time to spend with Keesha and Tara.
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What happens when Keesha interrupts Tara's counting?
Tara ignores Keesha until she loses count. Then, Tara screams. She pushes Keesha and then begins to cry.
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What does Tara's mother say she will do if she catches Tara praying again?
She says she will slap her across the face.
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What happens at the carnival that makes Tara's mother lose her control?
She tells Tara not to sign herself and Tara does it continuously.
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Why does Tara believe that she will never be able to fully trust her mother?
She thinks about how her mother's thoughts could be totally different from what she actually says.
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Why is Tara surprised that Donna talks to her?
Donna is popular and only talks to the coolest kids.
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Describe Donna. What is the deal Donna and Tara make?
She smokes and is a bad girl. If tara keeps Donna out of jail, Donna will keep Tara out of the "loony bin."
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What does Tara do after she steals makeup and gets away with it?
She takes it back and tells the manager she stoile it. But, no charges were pressed.
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What happens at the school play?
Tara can't speak on stage and won't say her small part at the very end of the play. But, her mother stands up and claps and everybody else does too.
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What happens when Tara's family sits down to Christmas dinner?
Her father said everyone can just sit where they were standing and Tara freaks out because she needs people to be where they're supposed to be.
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What new ritual does Tara perform in late January?
She began putting all ten fingers on the doorknob with equal pressure then brings the fingers to her lips and kisses them with equal pressure.
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Why does it take Tara so long to eat?
She has to rearrange all her food until it is in a pattern acceptable for consumption.
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After seeing a new psychiatrist, what is Tara's diagnosis?
The diagnosis is that Tara has borderline anorexia and anger issues.
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How many times does Tara have to complete the doorknob ritual?
She must complete it 33 times.
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What does Mr. Jacobson believe is wrong with Tara? How does he know anything about this disorder?
He thinks Tara is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has a boy in his class who suffers from it.
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What is the name of the boy Tara meets who has the same disorder she does? What specific fear did he have?
She meets Sam who has OCD. He's afraid of germs.
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What is the name of the therapy that helped him get better?
It's called exposure and response therapy.
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According to Susan Leonardi, what is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
It is a neurological condition, a biological diease, caused by a malfunction of some sort in the brain's circuitry.
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As part of Tar's therapy, what does Susan Leonardi tell her she must do each day?
She must confront her fears by imagining her parents hurt, injured, or dead.
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Who was the first bully Tara fought after starting her therapy?
She fought the pharmacist, who is also Sam's uncle, at the drugstore.
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After six weeks of therapy, what gift does Sam give Tara?
He gives her a crystal doorknob that continuously changes color.
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When Tara thinks about the recurring nightmare she has, what does she finally understand about it?
The monster was her OCD and it interfered with her life but she couldn't get rid of it. She was stuck with it.
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Why did Donna have to go to a special school?
She got pregnant.
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What triggered a relapse in Sam?
His parakeet died a few days after he kissed Tara and he starts to freak out about the germs that killed it.
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What does Tara say she has in her head?
tyrants
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