Reading up a storm

Published April 2009 by Scholastic Press. Review copy provided by publisher.

I received this book from a friend who works at Scholastic. Then later set up a video conference between Sarah Darer Littman and my teen writing group at the library. I’d wanted to read it but wasn’t sure I was ready for a heavy issue book. I was pleasantly surprised.

A very honest story about Janie, who is in a treatment center dealing with bulimia. Janie hates throwing up but finds herself binging and purging several times a day.  Told through Janie’s journal entries along the goings-on in her life. While the topic of the book is serious, there is a lot of humor in the book. There are a lot of statements about the pressure people are under to be thin, especially teenagers. While Janie is dealing with her own body image issues, I couldn’t help but think about myself as a teen and early 20-something.

The book was inspired by the author’s own struggle with bulimia. When she talked to the teen writing group she mentioned a scene in the book is directly based on her own time in a treatment facility.

(image from Goodreads)