A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares

1
The Boy at the Bus Stop
 
ESTHER SOLAR had been waiting outside Lilac Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for half an hour when she received word that the curse had struck again.

Rosemary Solar, her mother, explained over the phone that she would no longer, under any circumstances, be able to pick her daughter up. A cat black as night with demon-yellow slits for eyes had been found sitting atop the hood of the family car an omen dark enough to prevent her from driving.

Esther was unfazed. The spontaneous development of phobias was not a new phenomenon in the Solar family, and so she made her way to the bus stop four blocks from Lilac Hill, her red cape billowing in the evening breeze and drawing a few stares from strangers along the way.
 
On the walk, she thought about who normal people would call in a situation such as this. Her father was still interred in the basement he d confined himself to six years ago, Eugene was AWOL (Esther suspected he d slipped through another gap in reality it happened to Eugene from time to time), and her grandfather no longer possessed the fine motor skills required to operate a vehicle (not to mention that he couldn t remember that she was his granddaughter).

Basically, Esther had very few people who could bail her out of a crisis.

The bus stop was empty for a Friday night. Only one other person sat there, a tall black guy dressed like a character from a Wes Anderson movie, complete with lime-green corduroy pants, a suede jacket, and a beret pulled down over his hair. The boy was sobbing quietly, so Esther did what you re supposed to do when a complete stranger is showing too much emotion in your presence she ignored him completely. She sat next to him and took out her tattered copy of The Godfather and tried very hard to concentrate on reading it.

The lights above them hummed like a wasp s nest, flickering on and off. If Esther had kept her eyes down, the

Krystal Sutherland was born and raised in Townsville, Australia—an inhospitable land where crocodiles, snakes, and jellyfish are always on the prowl. She grew up living directly across the road from the local library and spent almost every day after school (and weekends, too) having adventures between the pages of books (mainly because it was too dangerous to go outside).

She moved to Sydney for college (and safety), where she cut her writing teeth as the editor of the student magazine at the University of New South Wales. She kept gathering tales as an exchange student in Hong Kong and as a foreign correspondent in Amsterdam. Her first book, Our Chemical Hearts, was released in 2016, and was published in over twenty countries.

Her three greatest fears are heights, dark caves . . . and (perhaps worst of all) frogs.

Praise for A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares:
An Amazon Editor's Favorite YA Book for Fall 2017 
An Amazon September Best of the Month Pick  YA/Teens
A Hello Giggles Best of September Pick
A Bustle Best of September YA Pick
A 2017 B&N Best Young Adult Book

Imbue[d] with energy, fascinating histories, wisps of humor and, ultimately, grace. . . Equal parts inspiring and good fun. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

[A] bewitching book . . . Sutherland's fertile imagination makes this book a deep dive into the intricacies of family, friends, and personal history. . . . A fresh and compelling look at mental illness. Kirkus Reviews

[A] darkly ironic tale about an offbeat dysfunctional family. Publishers Weekly

Rainbow Rowell devotees, John Green junkies, and fans of This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales will find a lot to love here. School Library Journal

[I]mmediately hooks readers . . . Libraries should purchase this for readers looking for something quite out of the ordinary. VOYA

Dark, magical, and humorous, this is a quirky and cohesive novel about fear, depression, and obsession with death. Booklist

[A] magical take on mental illness that feels very real. Bustle

The story is fantastic. Making the most of magic realism and with a perfectly paced plot, easy-to-love characters, and a touching array of interesting and relevant topics, Sutherland s book should be on everyone s bookshelves an alluring exploration of the human mental landscape. The Nerd Daily
 
Entirely pure pleasure, a sweet and heartfelt story of love, fear, and mental illness. It s funny and touching in all the best ways. Vox


Praise for Our Chemical Hearts: