I missed books like this in my formative years, having jumped straight to high fantasy in second grade and never branching out much in my extracurricular reading (only to Greek mythos and such later on). It's unfortunate because books like this absolutely have their place. As a kiddo that struggled with suicidal ideation from the age of 11, I think this book would have hit a younger me exactly where I needed, in a way that was more real than escaping through fantasy. It has The Alchemist vibes but in a way that doesn't feel like a log upside the head.