Body Image

Most educators know that negative body image is a virtual given in the lives of many teens, who not only tend to loathe their own bodies, but also to idealize the physique (and lives) of the ubiquitous “everybody else.” Body image comes, as it were, in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of causes and effects. While the usual suspects in terms of cause are peer and media pressure and the effects are often eating disorders, each of these topics could easily be the subject of entirely separate studies.

The titles in this list were chosen for middle and high school students. The fiction selections feature teens, preteens, and even adults concerned with issues ranging from being a few pounds overweight to suffering a severe physical deformity. Some of the characters seek perfection while others simply seek acceptance. The nonfiction titles try to explain why the topic is of such importance, and a few also offer encouragement and helpful hints.

Body image is not just about shapes and sizes, of course, but also about deformities, injuries, and immutable genetic facts of life. It’s about searching for balance, for health, for self. It’s about growing up.–

BLUME, Judy. Deenie. S & S. 1982. Tr $17. ISBN 0-02-711020-6.

Gr 5-8 –Long groomed by pushy Mom to be a model, beautiful Deenie, 13, is diagnosed with scoliosis. Distraught by having to wear a body brace, she must also deal with her mother, who treats it as her tragedy. Body image pervades multiple facets of the tale, including attitudes toward masturbation and the agony of a regular kid whose parent projects problems on her. A classic that remains relevant.

COOPER, Ilene. The New, Improved Gretchen Hubbard. Morrow. 1992. Tr $14. ISBN 0-688-08432-X.

Gr 6-8 –Gretchen, 12, loses weight over the summer, gets a makeover from friends, and is suddenly faced with the dissonance between her earlier self-image as Hippo Hubbard and the current Gorgeous Gretchen, who could–and does, briefly, on a bet–pass for 15 to snag a date with a visiting high school actor. The girl eventually discovers who she really is and does so sweetly.

ELISH, Dan. Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth-Grade Basket Case. S & S. 2002. RTE $16. ISBN 0-689-84386-0; pap. $4.99. ISBN 0-689-86213-X.

Gr 7-9 –In this much-needed boy’s view on growing up, short, talented 13-year-old Matt is overcome by jealousy when his best friend (the school hunk) writes a smashingly successful, albeit musically dreadful, school play. Upon wishing Keith ill, Matt’s life picks up, while Keith’s begins hitting walls. In time Matt gets a girl, and Keith recoups his losses. Funny, poignant, and ultimately positive.

FLAKE, Sharon. The Skin I’m In. Hyperion. 1998. Tr $14.95. ISBN 0-7868-0444-0; PLB $15.49. ISBN 0-7868-2392-5; pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-7868-1307-5.

Gr 6-8 –Sometimes being darker, poorer, and smarter are the problems, as Maleeka discovers at her urban middle school. New teacher Miss Saunders, wealthy, overweight, and just as dark, is on a corporate sabbatical. She’s determined to help Maleeka, who survives socially by being a virtual slave to the school’s most popular girl. Maleeka’s painful steps toward self-respect are ironically and effectively tied to a journal she writes in the voice of an African slave. Audio version available from Recorded Books.

FRIEND, Natasha. Perfect. Milkweed. 2004. Tr $16.95. ISBN 1-57131-652-3; pap. $6.99. ISBN 1-57131-651-5.

Gr 6-9 –In this aptly titled novel, Isabelle Lee, grieving for her recently deceased dad, assumes others–especially fabulous, friendly Ashley–have charmed lives. Discovered purging, Isabelle is sent to a therapy group with–surprise!–Ashley, and their ensuing friendship creates the crisis that, with the help of an empathetic teacher and growing family candidness, leads to a wonderfully satisfying, poignant conclusion. Friend knows middle school kids and delivers beautifully.

HAUTZIG, Deborah. Second Star to the Right. Puffin. 1999. pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-14-130580-0.

Gr 7 Up –Hautzig’s autobiographical novel rings so true it hurts. In a two-parent family where she is treasured, where everyone competently does their best, Leslie–a pleaser by nature–becomes anorexic. No easy answers here, the book ends with the brilliant, complex teen weighing 75 pounds and hospitalized, making her first conscious choice to live.

MACKLER, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. Candlewick. 2003. RTE $15.99. ISBN 0-7636-1958-2; pap. $8.99. ISBN 0-7636-2091-2.

Gr 7 Up –Virginia is the sassy, sad, chubby teen in a “perfect,” prominent family. Cracks occur when idolized college brother, Byron, commits date rape. Piercings and wild clothes symbolize Virginia’s rebellion, enhance her confidence, and unexpectedly help heal family rifts. The teen’s funny, rocky journey to self-acceptance also includes a brush with self-mutilation, incredulity that the boy she experiments with sexually likes her, and the support of a sister who escaped to the Peace Corps. Audio version available from Recorded Books.

NAYLOR, Phyllis Reynolds. The Grooming of Alice. S & S. 2000. RTE $16. ISBN 0-689-82633-8; pap. $4.99. ISBN 0-689-84618-5.

Gr 6-9 –This 12th book in the “Alice” series takes three close friends through their last summer before high school in a quest to make their bodies perfect. Crises include Elizabeth’s close call with anorexia, Pamela’s feud with Dad, the death of a beloved teacher, and a great “girls only” class at the YMCA where the three learn about their bodies, sex, healthy grooming, and nutrition.

NEWMAN, Leslea. Fat Chance. Putnam. 1996. pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-698-11406-X.

Gr 6-9 –Offering a great deal of girl appeal, this diary chronicles three and a half months in an eighth-grader’s pursuit to become the thinnest girl in school and handsome Richard Weiss’s girlfriend. Average to the core, Judi is caught up in shallow values, including emulation of Nancy Pratt, whose twig figure is achieved by bulimia. Sucked into this “easy” solution for losing a few extra pounds, Judi eventually receives help from a teacher, a counselor, and a mother who finally pays attention.

STRASSER, Todd. How I Changed My Life. S & S. 1995. Tr $16. ISBN 0-671-88415-8; pap. $4.99. ISBN 0-689-80895-X.

Gr 7 Up –The powerful Strasser takes on body-image problems with intelligence and spunk as Bo(lita), overweight high school stage manager, sheds weight to impress Kyle, the injured school quarterback who has to cope with being a has-been. In alternating chapters, Bo and Kyle’s observations, in voices true to the personality and limitations of each, grow and change in ways that surprise and haunt them and readers.

WILSON, Jacqueline. Girls under Pressure. Delacorte. 2002. Tr $9.95. ISBN 0-385-72975-8; PLB $11.99. ISBN 0-385-90041-4; pap. $4.99. ISBN 0-440-22958-8.

Gr 6-9 –In the second installment in the entertaining British “Girls” series, three friends all hit the body-image wall. Magda flirts and is nearly date-raped, Nadine blows a modeling contest, and narrator Ellie feels fat next to them. Making all the wrong moves toward serious eating disorders–lying, hiding food, throwing up, over exercising–the friends wise up in time to come through their crises intact. Sensitive, funny, realistic readers will realize how close disaster can call.

BORDEN, Sara, et al. Middle School: How to Deal. illus. by Yuki Hatori. Chronicle. 2005. pap. $9.95. ISBN 0-8118-4497-8.

Gr 6-8 –Five San Francisco middle school girls collaborated on this delightful self-help book with a hefty, upbeat chapter on body image. They cover balancing the desire to look a certain way with the reality of individual differences; responding to weird things boys do or say; eating healthfully; and dealing with bras, periods, and peer pressure. Colorful anecdotes and intelligent, hip language keep readers’ eyes on the prize–maintaining a healthy body image and body while navigating middle school.

DiBATTISTA, Rosemary Genova. Female Body Image: A Hot Issue. (Hot Issues Series). Enslow. 2002. PLB $27.93. ISBN 0-7660-1812-1.

Gr 7 Up –Six tidy chapters look at issues ranging from historical to media-generated images to changes women make to alter themselves. A colorful, glossy layout helps readers perceive how females have been manipulated to strive for an ever-changing, unachievable perfection that varies by culture. Real pluses include great photos (funny, Camryn Manheim looks way better than Calista Flockhart) and bright insets with useful questions and information.

FITZHUGH, Karla. Body Image. (Health Issues Series). Steck-Vaughn. 2004. PLB $32.79. ISBN 0-7398-6891-8.

Gr 5-9 –An excellent layout on colorful glossy pages makes this overview a great introduction. Chapters are brief and build upon one another, including the phenomenon of “physical culture,” body basics (build, fitness, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders), skin issues (piercing and tattooing among them), puberty, medical and cosmetic surgery, and getting help. Charts, anecdotes, graphs, and informative insets provide additional appeal.

HINDS, Maurene J. Focus on Body Image: How You Feel about How You Look. (Teen Issues Series) Enslow. 2002. PLB $22.60. ISBN 0-7660-1915-2.

Gr 6-9 –Taking a scientific tack, Hinds begins her discussion by defining body image before getting to “disturbances,” which include eating disorders and body dysmorphia (a relatively new find). Then comes the backdrop–enormous profits for companies who keep us all, teens especially, insecure about our looks. While the chapters on maintaining a positive image and prevention/treatment might strike readers as a tad patronizing, the bulleted warning signs and overall message is sound and helpful.

KIRBERGER, Kimberly. No Body’s Perfect. Scholastic. 2003. Tr $12.95. ISBN 0-439-42638-3; pap. $8.95. ISBN 0-439-42639-1.

Gr 7 Up –Over 100 articles, poems, and anecdotes written by teens and adult women comprise this Chicken Soup-like anthology. Attractive and readable, these engaging selections follow an intuitive path that constitutes a 24-step manual for self-acceptance, which can be enhanced by using the matching journal (purchased separately). Both are covered in pink and orange flowers and cutouts.

MASTROMARINO, Diane. The Girl’s Guide to Loving Yourself: A Book about Falling in Love with the One Person Who Matters Most–You. Blue Mountain Arts. 2003. pap. $8.95. ISBN 0-88396-751-0.

Gr 5-9–A kid-friendly layout and a compelling, humorous writing style addressed directly to readers are this guide’s best features. Topics are grouped into loose chapters; “Health Kick” and “The Truth about the Plastic Princess” are directly related to body image. Snappy page headings, for example, “What’s Eating You,” “Saving Face” (skin care), “Cover Girl, and “Boy Poll,” are followed by excellent, succinct information that concludes with a bright footer highlighting “Lessons Learned the Hard Way.”

MOE, Barbara. Understanding Negative Body Image. (A Teen Eating Disorder Prevention Bk.). Rosen. 1999. PLB $25.25. ISBN 0-8239-2865-9.

Gr 7 Up –Perhaps the base book of 12 (all good, by the way) in this more advanced series, this takes readers through the fundamentals: body image through the ages, causes and effects on individuals and those around them, fallacies and consequences, helping kids look at their own image and behaviors, and ideas on improving image perception. One of the best on multiple levels for readers ready for something deeper.

WALKER, Pamela. Everything You Need to Know about Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Dealing with a Distorted Body Image (The Need to Know Library Series). Rosen. 1999. PLB $25.25. ISBN 0-8239-2954-X.

Gr 7 Up –With dysmorphia, a recently discovered disorder equally common in boys and girls, the sufferer is of normal appearance but perceives some physical aspect (usually facial) as monstrously deformed. For example, typical teenage acne is viewed as a freakish lunar landscape, or an ordinary nose is seen as elephantine. These perceptions lead to social isolation. Walker examines possible root causes, risk factors, and ways of dealing with the problem–definitely with help from a professional therapist. The book includes excellent suggested contacts.

ZIMMERMAN, Bill. 100 Things Guys Need to Know. Free Spirit. 2005. pap. $13.95. ISBN 1-57542-167-4.

Gr 5-9 –A snappy self-help guide with enough of a comic-book flair to appeal to guys, this title has a full chapter on body image. Boys will be comforted to read about how insecure other boys are about the numerous embarrassing body changes that never seem to be “normal.” Other chapters look at self-respect, family and school issues, relationships, and the future. Get ready–this book has the potential to disappear.

BENNETT, Cherie. Life in the Fat Lane. Delacorte. 1998. Tr $15.95. ISBN 0-385-32274-7.

Gr 8 Up –When her weight suddenly balloons by 100 pounds due to a hormonal anomaly, Lara, previously “perfect,” finds that her relationships with family and friends (but for one) crumple, necessitating a painful search for self. A believable ending (she’d give anything to be thin again, except for who she has become) is the first step in what could be a bright–but fat–future. While the character’s disease is a fictional device, it provides a great premise and is beautifully executed.

CRUTCHER, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. HarperCollins. 1993. Tr $17.99. ISBN 0-688-11552-7; pap. $6.99. ISBN 0-06-009489-3.

Gr 8 Up –Best friends Eric (emerging from obesity) and Sarah Byrnes (horribly scarred from burns and caustically tough) save one another on many levels throughout this breathtakingly complex and harrowing story of emotional heroism and growth. Outstanding on so many levels, it speaks about abuse, loyalty, brutality, and hypocrisy, with some surprising saviors along the way. High school students everywhere, many of whom carry scars of some sort, will immediately relate. Audio version available from Recorded Books.

EDWARDS, Johanna. The Next Big Thing. Berkley. 2005. pap. $13. ISBN 0-425-20028-0.

Gr 8 Up –Overweight Kat, successfully employed in public relations but whose online British love, Nick, thinks she’s a size 4, becomes one of six contestants on “Fat2Fabulous,” a Hollywood reality show. Kat’s witty, insightful cynicism is a catalyst for tabloid sensationalism, and her relationships with contestants, staff, public and–oh yes, the shallow Nick–create a rollicking romp. Readers will feel Kat’s pain through the laughter while they wonder at the shenanigans of “reality” TV. Happily, thin is NOT the solution!

ELIOT, Eve. Insatiable: The Compelling Story of Four Teens, Food and Its Power. 2001. ISBN 1-55874-818-0.
––––. Ravenous: The Stirring Tale of Teen Love, Loss and Courage. 2002. ISBN 0-7573-0005-7.
ea. vol: Health Communications. pap. $12.95.

Gr 8 Up–Two heartfelt books by a recovered food addict, now a therapist, trace realistic stories of several girls whose eating and cutting disorders are rooted in distorted body images. The teens meet in group therapy in Insatiable; Ravenous takes them into college. No pat solutions here–these girls have ongoing issues, and resolution lies in continued therapy and self-discovery. Teens will be riveted by the stories while getting good advice. Very powerful.

GOING, K. L. Fat Kid Rules the World. Penguin. 2003. Tr $17.99. ISBN 0-399-23990-1; pap. $6.99. ISBN 0-14-240208-7.

Gr 9 Up– Big, fat, miserable, insightful Troy, 17, is contemplating suicide but is saved by Curt, a cadaverous, brilliant, homeless, druggie guitarist and neighborhood punk rock icon. Determined to make Troy his drummer, Curt becomes a sometimes part of Troy’s truncated family. Troy’s dad, a bitter ex-Marine who cannot fathom his fat son, undergoes subtle growth to become the pair’s unlikely savior. Funny, frightening, gritty, passionate, and real, this is an amazingly textured study of complex personal growth of almost symbiotic characters in crisis. Audio version available from Listening Library.

O’CONNELL, Rebecca. Myrtle of Willendorf. Front St. 2000. Tr $15.95. ISBN 1-886910-52-9.

Gr 10 Up –Obese, talented, acerbically funny college sophomore Myrtle spends her summer rooming with a sexually active, cosmetically enhanced roommate. The roommate’s boyfriend, Goat, becomes the unknowing subject of a wondrous, erotic painting Myr enters in a local art show. Peer reactions to the painting spur Myr to paint herself as the voluptuous Venus of Willendorf, a Wiccan goddess figure, and to reconnect with the world. There’s lots going on in this thin, punchy, first novel rife with quirky, but real, characters.

PEREZ, Marlene. Unexpected Development. Roaring Brook. 2000. Tr $16.95. ISBN 1-59643-006-0.

Gr 9 Up –With a title and jacket illustration guaranteeing heavy circulation (and potential challenges), Perez’s promising first novel involves Megan, 16, whose very large breasts make her question the attention of all males. The author’s successful treatment of the teen’s ambivalence about breast reduction and her long-term crush on handsome Jake outweigh the shakiness of subplots involving drinking and underage workplace sex.

ROSOFF, Meg. How I Live Now. Random. 2004. Tr $16.95. ISBN 0-385-74677-6; PLB $18.99. ISBN 0-385-90908-X.

Gr 8 Up –Anorexic Daisy, a miserable, quirkily perceptive 15-year-old New Yorker, is sent to live with British cousins whose mom is off on a peace mission. An idyllic adventure becomes more intense as Daisy and her cousin Edmond develop a deep but also physical relationship. During her stay, unidentified terrorists attack England, global war ensues, and the cousins are separated. Privation and growth necessitated by crisis move Daisy past anorexia into wisdom, and love changes her–and possibly her readers’–perspectives forever. Audio version available from Listening Library.

TOKIO, Marnelle. More Than You Can Chew: A Novel. Tundra. 2003. pap. $9.95. ISBN 0-88776-639-0.

Gr 9 Up –Marty, 17, always a fighter, keeps a record of her eight-month confinement at “Camp Eat-a-Lot” for treatment of anorexia and bulimia. She is brilliant, bitter, and funny, with a marvelous flair for description and irony and a determination to control her body. Her scorn and disappointment, coupled with a begrudging but accurate ability to assess herself and others, creeps heartbreakingly toward acceptance. Readers feel what she feels. A riveting portrayal.

ZEPHANIAH, Benjamin. Face. Bloomsbury. 2002. Tr $15.95. ISBN 1-58234-774-3; pap. $6.95. ISBN 1-58234-921-5.

Gr 8-10 –Handsome, popular Martin, 15, gets suckered into riding with a punk who crashes the car, leaving Martin with a face burned beyond recognition. His physical recovery is but the beginning, as the reactions of friends and strangers to his horribly scarred face force him to reassess his own self-image, as well as every other issue and relationship in his life.

LUCIANO, Lynne. Looking Good: Male Body Image in Modern America. Farrar. 2002. pap. $14. ISBN 0-8090-6638-6.

Gr 10 Up–Not intended as a guide for young adolescent males struggling with identity, this is more a history of what has constituted a positive male image in America over the years, or as the author puts it in her introduction, “a journey through the world of male vanity.” Chapters cover decades from the 1950s through the 1990s, and deal with issues ranging from hair to sexual dysfunction.

OJEDA, Auriana, ed. Body Image. Gale. 2002. PLB $31.20. ISBN 0-7377-1256-2; pap. $19.95. ISBN 0-7377-1255-4.

Gr 8 Up –Outstanding for format and audience appeal, this compilation of 18 reader-friendly, breezily written short pieces is organized by topic (“Concerns,” “Media,” “Body Modifications,” and psychological how-tos). Written by pros and teens, topics run the gamut, including eating and body dysmorphic disorders, stereotypes, piercings, liposuction, and sound nutritional advice. Intriguing “Points of Contention” pair opposing views.

SHANDLER, Sara. Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write about Their Search for Self. Perennial. 1999. pap. $12.95. ISBN 0-06-095297-0.

Gr 8 Up –In response to Reviving Ophelia (Putnam, 1994) Shandler offers a collection of girls’ poetic and prose impressions of media images, eating disorders, cutting, drinking, and sexual abuse. The author began reaching out and collecting responses from “real Ophelias” at age 16 and continued into college. Well organized and framed by Shandler’s own writings, this is sobering, realistic, and important reading for all concerned with adolescent girls.