The Clock In My Head Never Stops

by Daniel Rush

Overview

Step inside the mind of a 16-year-old boy consumed with severe anxiety. As Billy Thompson traverses his day, readers will understand what life is like for a teenage boy who suffers from overwhelming worries and racing thoughts. Billy could find relief in football, family, or friends, but his mind won't let him. Instead, Billy's head is spinning out of control, and he is on the verge of a breakdown.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798331410636
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	08/16/2024
Pages:	124
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.29(d)

About the Author

Daniel Rush is originally from Tampa, Florida. During his sophomore year of high school, Daniel abruptly left school due to severe anxiety. He spent the rest of the academic year at home, enrolled in a public school homebound program for students with severe physical or mental health conditions. The following year, Daniel returned to school. Daniel went on to attend and graduate from Florida State University. After college, he began working as a teacher. He worked on and off as a teacher for several years, until he transitioned into a career as a librarian.

Editorial Reviews

2025-01-02
This debut novella follows a day in the life of a Florida teenager who suffers from relentless anxiety.

Billy Thompson wakes up dreading another day at his North Tampa high school. He’s about a month into his sophomore year, and everything, it seems, puts him on edge on a daily basis. For starters, Billy gets home in the late evenings due to football practice, leaving him little time for homework. On this particular day, he has done only a fraction of an English class reading assignment and not finished a world history outline. But as his narration succinctly puts it, “Every class has its horrors.” In some classrooms, he’s worried about reading aloud or not taking notes quickly enough during the teacher’s lecture. In others, it’s his social standing that concerns him, as when a once close friend blatantly ignores him to mingle with the popular crowd. Billy practically lives inside his mind, internally debating nearly every decision he makes or brooding over the ones he’ll have to live with. Rush’s story is an apt portrayal of someone with anxiety problems. For Billy, hardly any activities are mundane; he even practices what he’ll say when he’s in line for lunch. While such classes as Algebra II apparently confuse or bore him, it’s most likely that Billy has trouble paying attention with his mind on so many things at once. The author believably captures a teen’s voice, as Billy struggles to make small talk with a girl he’s crushing on and cycles through an overload of questions in his head. Nevertheless, a few of the abundant students and teachers in Billy’s life are flatly interchangeable. Zach and Tyler, for example, are almost the same character—they are both old pals of Billy’s who live nearby, but partly because they are on a different sports team, they no longer talk to the protagonist.

A convincing portrait of an adolescent’s serious mental health issue.

Kirkus Reviews