A breezy, accessible, and uplifting guide to body positivity.
Plus-size supermodel and activist Holliday empowers readers to reject traditional beauty norms and love themselves, inside and out.
Holliday, whose body-positive “Eff Your Beauty Standards” social media campaign went viral, acknowledges her commitment to striving to make “the world a better and safer place for folks in larger bodies” and the pride she takes in being “part of a collective of people who have helped shift a generation,” particularly since she grew up without positive role models who looked like her. This work, which Holliday co-wrote with YA author Coon, draws on the expertise of four consultants with diverse backgrounds and professions, and urges teens to practice self-acceptance. The material is divided into two parts: “Love Your Outer You” and “Love Your Inner You.” Some sections encourage readers to become aware of and challenge the stereotypes they hold about others based on identity labels relating to gender, religion, social class, and other factors. Holliday and Coon strive to include language and content that will engage people of many genders, styles, and cultures. The fun fonts and graphic design, short segments (frequently divided into bullet points or numbered lists), and style and personality quizzes peppered throughout mean the book may be most appealing to younger teens. Even as the work addresses difficult topics like disordered eating and food insecurity, the tone remains upbeat, focusing on messages of kindness and confidence.
A breezy, accessible, and uplifting guide to body positivity. (Q&A, further reading, resources) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9780762489152
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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