A painfully real account of a teen’s inhumane treatment, with mixed mental health representation.
A friendless, bullied teen finds healing through weightlifting.
At 6 feet tall and fat, Marcella Boucher is friendless and self-loathing. At school she faces constant, sometimes physical, torment, and at home, her gym-owning, ostensibly loving parents enforce dangerous calorie restrictions. She’s been making out with popular boy Lou, but only in secret. In fact, Lou is dating Vivi, a popular, skinny cheerleader. Marcella is humiliated after she asks Lou out in public—he not only rejects her, but Vivi also adds her own scornful insults. Her distress is so great that she tries to hang herself, an event that’s described in detail. After the aborted attempt, Marcella’s father forces her to visit a “board certified therapist specializing in eating disorders and childhood obesity.” Meanwhile, a surprising friendship with Jason, the new boy at school, leads Marcella to a women’s weightlifting gym, where she gains self-confidence. Jason, who’s in foster care, has struggles of his own. Marcella’s emotional growth arc also follows her eating disorder therapy to address her binging. However, her suicide attempt (provoked by vicious bullying at school, enablement of that mistreatment by the administration, and abusive fat-shaming at home) is not adequately addressed in therapy, and it’s seemingly not taken seriously enough by the adults around her, despite the livid bruises around her throat. All major characters appear to be white.
A painfully real account of a teen’s inhumane treatment, with mixed mental health representation. (mental health resources) (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780807504123
Page Count: 368
Publisher: AW Teen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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