So while there aren't exactly many laughs, there are plenty of light moments to balance the tragic ones. At one point in her therapy, Zelah asked to touch the inside of a toilet bowl with her bare hand. As she runs an internal commentary on her stress levels - ''Zelah Green wins the gold medal for toilet touching!'' - you just can't help but laugh. At the same time, you feel an overwhelming sense of solidarity with her suffering. Zelah herself is fascinating both as a person and an OCD sufferer. She's sparky, original, bright, and - most of the time - she's honest with herself. As a character bringing awareness about a horrible illness to thousands of readers, she's an absolute triumph.
It's difficult to think of some fault or pick to balance my gushing here, to be honest. Zelah's stepmother is a bit of a cardboard cutout really, and her eventual seeing-off is a tad unlikely, but she's such an unimportant part of the book it's barely worth mentioning. Otherwise, ''Zelah Green, Queen of Clean: Who Says I'm a Freak?'' comes highly recommended by Bookbag.
My thanks to the nice people at Egmont for sending the book.