This brave revelation is a young anorexic’s heart laid bare.
A teen girl gives readers an intimate close-up of her eating disorder through her journal writing.
This novel, based on Khalil’s actual journal, begins when she’s 14 and travels through four years of her agonizing struggle with anorexia nervosa. There is a tyrant in her head whom she has named Ed. His voice appears in italics as he tells Danah she’s too fat, that she’s lazy and weak. “Please understand,” he wickedly reminds her, “I only want what is best.” The grip Ed has on her is relentless and exhausting, as he insists on an obsessive daily exercise regimen, on calorie counting, and on menu planning. Even when her weight drops below 100 pounds and she begins an outpatient program, Danah keeps the presence of her demon a secret. After treatment, Ed’s stranglehold lessens, but his strength returns and Danah surrenders once again. Danah describes her outrage at the ubiquitous triggers: media, magazines, even well-meaning parents who cautioned her against carbs. Her voice is authentic and visceral. The journal entries are sprinkled with poems, often haiku, and fold in helpful resources, including a short list of topical books and symptoms of eating disorders. The roller coaster of emotions and weight fluctuations becomes repetitious, but the gut-wrenching reality of Danah’s situation is unforgettably powerful.
This brave revelation is a young anorexic’s heart laid bare. (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-927583-96-8
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Refreshing and moving: avoids easy answers and saviors from the outside.
From Sudan to Maine, in free verse.
It's 1999 in Juba, and the second Sudanese civil war is in full swing. Viola is a Bari girl, and she lives every day in fear of the government soldiers occupying her town. In brief free-verse chapters, Viola makes Juba real: the dusty soil, the memories of sweetened condensed milk, the afternoons Viola spends braiding her cousin's hair. But there is more to Juba than family and hunger; there are the soldiers, and the danger, and the horrifying interactions with soldiers that Viola doesn't describe but only lets the reader infer. As soon as possible, Viola's mother takes the family to Cairo and then to Portland, Maine—but they won't all make it. First one and then another family member is brought down by the devastating war and famine. After such a journey, the culture shock in Portland is unsurprisingly overwhelming. "Portland to New York: 234 miles, / New York to Cairo: 5,621 miles, / Cairo to Juba: 1,730 miles." Viola tries to become an American girl, with some help from her Sudanese friends, a nice American boy and the requisite excellent teacher. But her mother, like the rest of the Sudanese elders, wants to run her home as if she were back in Juba, and the inevitable conflict is heartbreaking.
Refreshing and moving: avoids easy answers and saviors from the outside. (historical note) (Fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6267-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
Valuable insight into a time when abortions were illegal and pregnant teenagers were hidden away instead of filmed for a...
Teen pregnancy long before 16 and Pregnant.
It’s 1956, and Jamie’s best friend Elaine is “in trouble,” code for those teenage girls who begin wearing loose clothing and then suddenly disappear to live with a mysterious “aunt” for a while. Jamie is concerned for Elaine, but she also has problems of her own. Her father has just returned home after being jailed for his refusal to name names during the McCarthy hearings, and Jamie’s relationship with him is still fragile. She’s also hiding a secret equal to Elaine’s: While staying in New York City with her older cousin Lois, she was date raped by one of Lois’ friends and is too ashamed to tell anyone what happened. But when Jamie realizes that she’s skipped a period, she suddenly finds herself in just as much “trouble” as Elaine. Now she has to make a choice that Levine makes abundantly clear was much harder for teenage girls in the ’50s than it is today. Daring subject aside, the author breaks little new ground in this typical problem novel (a stand-alone continuation of 2005’s Catch a Tiger by the Toe). The dialogue-heavy prose, short length and always-timely topic will attract reluctant readers, and the familiarity of the form will carry them through.
Valuable insight into a time when abortions were illegal and pregnant teenagers were hidden away instead of filmed for a reality TV show. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6558-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
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