Ellie is frantic. Her two best friends seem to be living life in the fast lane while she putters along the curb. Glamorous blond Magda has got a thousand cute boys buzzing around her, and Goth girl Nadine has just been asked to take part in a national teen modeling contest. All Ellie has are massive panic attacks about her weight. So she decides to go on a diet. But instead of counting calories, Ellie just tries to stop eating altogether. Soon she's starving, miserable, and lying all the time to her friends and family. Luckily, a frightening encounter with a real anorectic, and an encouraging dose of art history from a handsome new teacher ("Beauty is just fashion. Male artists have used beautiful women throughout the centuries but their sizes and proportions keep changing") help Ellie realize that size is just a state of mind.
In this second installment of the Girls trilogy, fabulous British author Jacqueline Wilson keeps her trademark funny bone firmly in place while simultaneously raising some sobering questions about issues like eating disorders and teens' overemphasis on appearance. Despite the laughs, Ellie very nearly lapses into anorexia, Magda gets a scare when her chronic flirting almost leads to date rape, and Nadine realizes that the modeling business could care less about her individuality or intellect. Wrapping serious messages in a sugary comical coating is always the best way to make the medicine go down. Recommended for those teen female readers who want something both funny and filling. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
What I hate about books like this one is that the main character is a girl of average height and size who can't stop complaining about how horrible her body is. So what if she's not tall and skinny like model-like Nadine? So what if she hasn't got a figure of 8 like sexy Magda? When reading this, normal young girls with perfectly healthy, normal bodies may feel that there is something wrong with their figure, and that they too should be worrying like Ellie does or going to extreme measures to lose weight...
writes,
This book is about Ellie Allard being overweight and deciding to become annorexic. IT'S NOT OKAY TO BE ANNOREXIC!!!!! tjis book is setting a bad example.
writes,
This if a great book (especially if you are pre/teens) because it deals with things that people actually feel and it gives such a morol which is a good thing you don't mostly get in some books and it teachesbe happy with the way you are. It reminds of the movie "when best friends kill". I would recommend this book to ANYONE
