Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

Payton feels betrayed after learning her father has kept his multiple sclerosis hidden from her. When a guidance counselor suggests Payton redirect her attention, she chooses the back of her classmate's head as a "focus spot." Over the course of the story, she loses her attitude, drops her guard, and falls in love. Payton's chatty narration and growing self-awareness drive the story.

School Library Journal (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2011)

Gr 6-9 When 15-year-old Payton Gritas gives her family the silent treatment for withholding her father's MS diagnosis for six months, her parents request the aid of their daughter's guidance counselor, who assigns a focus object exercise. Payton chooses Sean Griswold's head because she and Sean have been linked by last name proximity since the third grade. Soon, with the help of her boy-crazy friend Jac, Payton gets to know Sean Griswold the person and the head. Interpersonal conflicts abound as the teen chooses to focus on avoidance rather than confronting the fear she is experiencing. In a balanced proportion of comedy and gravity, she comes to terms with her father's illness, deals with conflicts she has created with Jac, and eventually opens up her heart to a little romance. While the path that Leavitt paves for her protagonist is somewhat predictable, the likable characters will have girls gravitating toward the novel. Though the book takes a light look at a teenager coming to grips with a parent's serious illness, it is refreshing and realistic without being overwrought with angst. Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ

ALA Booklist (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2011)

A teenager charts her rocky course toward, as she puts it, getting over myself in the wake of the revelation that her father has contracted multiple sclerosis. Enraged to learn that everyone else in her family has been shielding her from the knowledge for six months, 15-year-old Payton stops speaking at home, lets her schoolwork slide, and manages to alienate both her stubbornly loyal best friend and budding romantic interest Sean classmate who, thanks to alphabetization, has occupied the desk in front of her since third grade. Setting up the central conflict as an inner one between Payton's anger-fueled grief and her deep-seated good nature and common sense, Leavitt tucks in lines like I don't do spandex. The devil wears spandex. And I doubt the devil's butt is as big as mine while bringing her protagonist around to acceptance and repaired relationships with help from patient family members and peers, an unexpectedly wise guidance counselor, a little prayer, a newfound love for long-distance biking, and plenty of self-analysis. It's formulaic, but the formula is tried-and-true.

Kirkus Reviews

Payton Gritas' world is turned upside down when she discovers her father has multiple sclerosis and that her parents and older brothers have kept the news from her for six months. Devastated, Payton is referred to the school counselor, who, within seconds of meeting her, instructs Payton to select a subject to focus on, other than her father's illness, and record her observations in a journal. Neither the therapeutic relationship nor the assignment makes much sense, but they get the plot rolling. Payton's random choice of "focus object" is the head of Sean Griswold, the boy seated ahead of her in biology. Egged on by her best friend, Jac, Payton researches Sean, and her attention evolves into a mutual attraction. Payton is likable and the writing brisk and amusing, but this offering from the author of Princess for Hire (2010), encumbered by too-visible plot contrivances, fails to convince. Complex, significant issues are raised but then accorded frustratingly superficial treatment. Payton's life and affluent lifestyle are barely affected by her father's illness; the biggest impact is cancellation of a family spring-break getaway to Florida. While she learns a few lessons about denial and selfishness in the abstract, she's protected from having to put them in practice. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A chronic worrier, high school freshman Payton Gritas has just had a massive wrench thrown into her hyperorganized life: for six months her family has kept her father's multiple sclerosis diagnosis a secret from her. The school guidance counselor asks Payton to keep a journal about a "Focus Object" of her choosing, and she picks Sean Griswold's head, since he has sat in front of her in class for years. The drama begins when her boy-crazy best friend, Jac, decides that they should research Sean-and then starts playing matchmaker. Payton soon falls for sensitive Sean and begins to share his passion for cycling, but between her father's illness, her declining grades, and her faltering friendship with Jac, she isn't sure that she can let someone new into her life. Leavitt (the Princess for Hire series) delicately handles topics of illness, evolving relationships, and what it means to grow up. Payton's alternately sarcastic, snappy, and reflective narration ("The truth, I know, is that it's not my dad I'm really mad at. I'm mad at his disease") carries this insightful story. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)