John Green delves deeper into the dark reaches of the teenage brain than ever before, creating a remarkable if occasionally hard-to-read story about a girl living with anxiety and OCD. Once Aza meets Davis again, however, they rekindle a bond that equally thrills and terrifies Aza. Daisy, who comes from a low-income family, persuades Aza to play detective with her and get reacquainted with Davis - $100,000 would help them both go to college. (Aza's father and Davis' mother each died when the kids were in elementary school). When a local Indianapolis billionaire goes missing and police offer a $100,000 reward for information about his whereabouts, Daisy recalls that Aza had attended grief camp with the billionaire's son, Davis. Aza's unwanted thoughts make her feel disconnected from her self and the here and now her main preoccupation is that she'll contract a bacterial infection like C. Aza has a loyal best friend, Daisy Ramirez, an enthusiastic extrovert who can talk about anything with anyone. In TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN, John Green tells the story of Indianapolis 16-year-old Aza Holmes, who struggles with debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder, repetitive intrusive thoughts, and extreme anxiety. Parents who read this book with their teens should have a host of topics to discuss with them, starting with the importance of adolescent mental health. There is nothing age-inappropriate in the book, so expect a smattering of strong language (including occasional use of 'f-k' and 's-t') and some brief kissing scenes, but no sex. As in all of Green's books, the teen characters are unabashed nerds: incredibly intelligent, well read, and able to discuss everything from architecture and visual art to philosophy and microbiology with as much ease as they talk about Star Wars trivia and the joys of fanfiction.

Green, who has publicly shared he also has OCD, based the main character's struggles on his own lived experience. While that book tackled the issue of teens with cancer, this book centers on a protagonist suffering from anxiety and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behavior. Parents need to know that Turtles All the Way Down is best-selling author John Green's first novel since 2012's runaway success, The Fault in Our Stars.

Turtles all the way down review