Anna Russell

Anna Russell is a Buffalo writer whose teen verse fiction is designed to be emotionally direct and accessible. What If? follows Josh Baker, a talented drummer and strong mathematics student whose repeated checking, counting, and intrusive thoughts increasingly interfere with school and family life. West 44 Books released this verse narrative during 2019 as a high-interest, lower-reading-level work. Josh’s eventual obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosis gives him language for his experience without making recovery immediate or simple. Music supplies both structure and pressure: unfinished songs trouble him, while drumming offers another way to organize thought and feeling. Publisher material notes Russell’s study of English and creative writing and her personal familiarity with OCD, which informs the book’s emphasis on awareness and empathy. What If? uses short lines, first-person narration, and a compact form to keep readers close to Josh’s changing understanding of his mind. Russell later continued writing accessible verse fiction for teenagers, including Sick Girl Secrets.