OCDaniel

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What does OCD stand for, and what is it?

Teaching Suggestion: The resources below can help prepare students to respond to the question. Alternatively, the resources can be discussed after students have shared their responses. 

• Debunking the Myths of OCD (a TED-Ed video) discusses how culture trivializes OCD, minimizing and misrepresenting the condition as a preference for clean and orderly spaces, when in reality OCD is an extremely distressing disorder.
• A blog post from someone with OCD from the International OCD Foundation details the author’s life with OCD before and after seeking treatment.

2. Wesley King, the author of OCDaniel, explains in his author’s note that the novel is an autobiographical depiction of his own mental health struggles with OCD. How is OCDaniel different from a biography?

Teaching Suggestion: Compare King’s comments about struggling with OCD to Daniel’s experiences in OCDaniel. Contrast Daniel with King and identify differences to highlight the fictional elements of the novel.

• Wesley King’s letter to his younger self highlights the similarities and differences that play out on the page in OCDaniel and can support discussion around the difference between autobiographical fiction and an autobiography/memoir.
• King’s article about how he wrote OCDaniel further explains the similarities between his childhood nighttime routine and Daniel’s routine, their shared emotions, and more.

Short Activity

Research one mental health diagnosis. Include information about symptoms, treatments, and how it may affect the daily lives of those with the condition. Compile this information for a slide show presentation.

Teaching Suggestion: Review how Daniel in OCDaniel fears admitting that he has OCD, and the stigma around mental health issues in society. Facilitate discussion around mental health and its importance.

• This article from DOGO News reviews Simone Biles’s decision to withdraw from Olympic competitions to focus on her mental health. The article has two versions for varied reading levels and includes videos of Biles and her teammates discussing her choice at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
• Data and statistics from the CDC demonstrate the prevalence of mental health conditions in children to illustrate how mental health should be a concern for everyone.