THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH

A summer vacation turns sinister as a monster grows hungry.

Every summer, Evan Rio and her parents escape to the lakeside town of Sonrisa for a big reunion. But this summer is different. Evan’s parents aren’t coming; they’ve been fighting. Billie and Jackson—Evan’s long-distance best friends—have hit puberty and are changing. Evan’s changing, too: Her mom’s dieting rules are leading her to skip meals and obsess over her appearance. When a strange creature starts wreaking havoc, the trio decide to track the beast and reclaim their perfect summer. Can they stop it before someone gets hurt? Mejia’s latest powerfully links eating disorders with body horror, drawing parallels between the monster and Evan’s own appetites. Frequent references to calories, meal skipping, and buzzing hunger provide a vivid window into Evan’s internal struggles. The story’s tone avoids shame and is hopeful, even affirming, as Evan confronts her own perceived monstrosity. Evan is biracial (her mom is cued white, and her dad has deep brown skin), Billie, who’s queer, has golden-brown skin, and Jackson, who has asthma, is racially indeterminate. While Evan’s mom is awful and abusive (but not without redemption—“We can have empathy for those who lead us astray, but we cannot allow them to continue leading,” the monster observes), Billie’s mom provides a necessary foil, showing what it might look like to support a child with anorexia. An author’s note provides essential context and encourages readers to seek help.

Intriguing and not for the faint of heart.