Surviving the teenage years isn't easy; especially, if you've just found out why you're feeling so, totally, different from the rest of the kids at school. In "My Strange and Terrible Malady", Ronita Baker, 11th-grade individualist, is not happy. Doctors just diagnosed her with Asperger Syndrome. It's hard enough being the misfit daughter of a perfect mother. School isn't much easier. Things change when Ronnie meets Hannah and she takes the time to explain the mysteries of social interaction and other conundrums of daily life to Ronnie. Hannah soon makes more sense to Ronnie than the despised Life Coach. At first...but that changes when the Life Coach starts relating better to Ronnie. "My Strange and Terrible Malady" takes a look at Asperger Syndrome from a young woman's point of view. Ronnie is clearly not socially savvy, but she is learning. Social and emotional interaction can be learned.