Frankie Parsons is a worrier. Are the smoke alarm batteries dead? Does the cat have worms? Could that odd-shaped spot on his chest be cancer? What about bird flu?
Most of the people in Frankie's world – his father, his brother and sister, his great-aunts, his best friend – seem gloriously untroubled. Only Ma takes his catalogue of persistent anxieties seriously; only Ma listens patiently to his 10pm questions. But of course it is Ma who is the cause of the most worrying question of all.
In a novel first published in the UK in 2010, New Zealand literary great Kate De Goldi creates deploys her renowned wit and sensitivity to track how one young boy's carefully controlled world unravels around him. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this story resonates even more strongly a decade on.
Chosen by EmpathyLab for their Read for Empathy Collection 2025 (12-16yrs+)EmpathyLab say: A beautifully written and funny story about anxiety. Wonderful characterisation helps us connect deeply with twelve-year-old Frankie’s overwhelming worries. Thank goodness for his warm and caring family who help him.
B-format paperback (297 x 198mm); 320pp; suggested age range 12+ (Frankie is 12)
Themes: neurodiversity, anxiety, agoraphobia, coming-of-age, friendship, family
