Video Games and Friendships

Kat and Meg Conquer the World
Author: Anna Priemeza



A new school, a new friend, and a video game that ties it all together.

Kat and Meg are two neurodivergent tenth graders going to high school in Alberta, Canada. While Kat has severe anxiety-- “I have panic attacks”-- Meg has ADHD-- “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my ADHD that made me bored out of my mind.”. They meet when they end up partners for a year-long science project, and when Meg goes to Kat’s house to work on it, they realize they both love the video game Legends of the Stone (LotS). Meg prefers to watch Youtubers play it though, and Kat actually does play it. They play around for a while with ideas about the topic for the science project until deciding to measure reaction time with sugar and without, using speed runs on LotS. From then on they eat lunch together, sometimes walking outside or going to the library. In their family life, they each aren’t happy. Meg’s parents are divorced, and she hasn’t talked to her stepdad since he moved out months before. Kat’s brother Luke went away to college and is so distant now, and she has to help her grandpa clear out his house, but neither of them is enthusiastic to do it. As the story progresses, the girls reveal more things about themselves and find out things they didn’t know they could ever accomplish.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it was entertaining, though there were some rather noticeable faults. Meg’s ADHD seems a little overdone, like the author read about it and did her research, but tried too hard to make it accurate, most obvious where Meg constantly and kind of obnoxiously forgets certain words; “I am redefining the term BFF. Lyrically. No, Limerickally. Come on, what’s the word?” This isn’t false, but the author really overdid it. Also, there isn’t really a plot. The characters do have objectives, but it isn’t a plot-driven novel. I would recommend this book to teenage girls, people with anxiety or ADHD, and people who know what it’s like to make new friends. Representation is so important, and for kids to see themselves in the books they read is really impactful.







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