DOES THIS BOOK MAKE ME LOOK FAT?

A theme anthology is sometimes forgiven artistic paleness if it’s strong or striking in subject matter, but this underwhelming collection carries only a weak narrative thrust. Each chapter addresses, in some way, insecurity or oppression due to body type. Fiction and memoir alternate uneasily with each other, never quite meshing. Most chapters are fine individually, competently portraying body anxiety and dissatisfaction, but there’s no particular power to the sum total. While many chapters acknowledge the harsh cultural pressures that render positive body image a challenge for almost everyone, there’s no underlying or overarching condemnation of such pressures. Two stories shine as literature—Jaclyn Moriarty’s “The Day Before Waterlily Arrived” and Ellen Hopkins’s “Pretty, Hungry”—and Coe Booth’s “How to Tame a Wild Booty” is empowering. Overall, however, this volume is more likely simply to keep readers company in their insecurity than to help them conquer it. (Anthology. 11 & up)