Inside Out by Terry Trueman

Trueman, Terry. Inside out. New York: HarperTempest, 2003. Print. 128 pages.

• ISBN-10: 0064473767
• ISBN-13: 978-0064473767
• 
  

Zach suspects that things might not be going well when two armed teens burst into the coffee shop where he is waiting for his mother. When their attempted hold-up goes wrong, the teens take everyone in the shop hostage, including the confused Zach. What the robbers don’t realize is that Zach suffers from paranoid adolescent schizophrenia. This condition has left the boy, even with proper medication, in a state of never really knowing the motivations behind other people’s emotions and actions. It also means that if he doesn’t get his medicine on time, two of his worst mental projections, Dirtbag and Rat, may come and torment him to the point of suicide. And time is running out…
http://www.myshelf.com/teen/fiction/04/insideout.htm


I absolutely loved reading this book.  It was a quick read which I think that a lot of middle school students would enjoy.  Also, it is not an overwhelming book which I think is important for students who are not very strong readers.  Sometimes seeing a 500 page book is a little too much and can squash their confidence.  I thought the topic of schizophrenia was a very interesting also.  Seeing the transition from the normal mental state to the schizophrenic mental state is fascinating.  I think it would make a great fiction novel to accompany one's knowledge/learning about the disorder.