I am an oldest child. I have two younger sisters (and several younger steps and halfs but not getting into all that.) Nevertheless, I am not solely invested in that position, and I do like reading books from other perspectives. I thought this would mostly me a lighter story about sisters, but what it was was a truly riveting exploration of various family dynamics, and an eating disorder and how it can impact others in the family (and how it can be particularly dangerous to a younger sister), and friendship and self-acceptance.
Lucy and Olivia have always gotten along and Lucy really considers Olivia to be her best friend, until they switch schools (which Olivia meanly attributes to Lucy's lack of friends at the original school). Lucy, not realizing that a lot of things are changing for Olivia, with the school change hitting right alongside puberty, takes Olivia's pulling away personally, but luckily does finally make a good friend. But then the family moves away and they both have to start over in yet another new school, and as Lucy flounders without her sister's help or advice, she meets some mean girls/frenemies and isn't sure what to do besides try to befriend them, even if that ends up ruining her previously happy self-esteem. While all of this is going along, there are a few hints, and then Lucy overhears discussion of Olivia's eating disorder, which shocks her, and her parents, who are trying their best to have this not impact Lucy too much, don't explain things very much, leaving Lucy confused and feeling alone.
This is fictionalized but it does bear a lot of similarities to the author Maggie's own growing up, so if you like graphic memoirs, this reads very similarly. It makes a lot of sense for a book that has a lot to do with size, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders, to be a visual one. The graphic aspect works very well here.
For younger kids, the eating disorder is eventually well explained, and for anyone with disordered eating, there are no real "tips" (although one of Lucy's frenemies has some odd ideas about eating that they try, but they shouldn't be overly triggering. But it is a book about eating disorders so if that could be problematic, maybe skip this.) I've read several books on eating disorders but never one from a sibling's point of view before, and that was eye-opening. I found this book utterly captivating and I couldn't tear my eyes away from it for a moment. I read the whole thing in one sitting.
This book is published by Roaring Brook, a division of Macmillan, my employer.
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