by Chad Lucas,  279 pages, Grades 7 and up.

Brian feels anxious all the time, even playing basketball which he loves. His dad and mom have always tried to help encourage him and support him, but when suddenly finds himself away from them in foster care his anxiety turns into full blown panic attacks. I mean, the panic is warranted. His father left town escaping some mysterious threat, and his mother, who couldn’t handle the stress alone, attempted suicide which left Brian to look after a younger brother and cope with his anxiety on his own. Luckily a teammate, Ezra, is becoming a new friend to Brian at school, but Brian hardly has enough head space to focus on a new friendship when the rest of his world is crumbling around him.  Ezra has some struggles of his own to contend with; he really wants to be a good friend to Brian, but he is also noticing some other feelings bubbling up. Ezra doesn’t want to compromise their friendship, but he also wants to be honest with Brian about how he feels about him; will there ever be the right moment for that in Brian’s stressful current existence?

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If you like realistic fiction with complex characters you might also like: I’ll Give You The Sun, by Jandy Nelson, I’ll Be There, by Holly Goldberg Sloan, or Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson.

Tags: anxiety, friendship, sports, baseball, LGBTQ+, identity