Book 7: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

One of the rules for this project is that I have to read two books by one author, so this is my second Anderson book.

"I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don't want to die".

I did not like it as much as I liked Speak, but I still thought it was an interesting and insightful read.

This book tells the story of Lia. Lia's best friend Cassie dies (don't worry, that wasn't a spoiler, it even says it on the back of the book), but until the autopsy report is done Lia doesn't know the cause of death-all she knows is that Cassie died alone, in a motel room. Lia's mother is a busy busy surgeon, her father is always away on business, and her stepmother is kind of clueless. The voice in Lia's head repeats "remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less". If she keeps going like this-thin, thinner, thinnest-maybe she'll disappear all together. Read the book and discover Lia's inner torment, the ghosts that haunt her, why she does these things to herself, how it affects her family, and go with her on her journey to find out what happened to Cassie.

One thing that this book has that I haven't seen in others is the author's use of strikethrough text:

“My traitor fingers want that fudge. No, they don’t. They want a seven layer bar and some weird muffins and those pretzels. No, they don’t. They want to squish the marshmallows and stuff them into my mouth. They will not.”

This book delves into one girl's struggle with life and anorexia. Low on sexual content, light on language, but definitely intense in content-again one I would hesitate to use in a classroom due to sensitive subject matter. Anywho, once again a keeper as far as guidance counseling goes-decidedly a book I would keep in my office.

Another part of the assignment is choosing a "stretch" book, meaning one that's either out of your usual realm, by an author you're hesitant about, etc. This is my stretch book. When I read the synopsis I knew this would be my stretch book; mostly because it's a difficult subject. I find pieces (books, articles, shows, news stories, etc.) on eating disorders to be really harrowing and difficult-for multiple reasons. It's such a complex topic and there are so many reasons that make it difficult, for me at least, to read about. I myself have never experienced having an eating disorder, but I have several friends who have-and even if I didn't, I still think it would be difficult to read about the mental/emotional/physical struggles the individual experiences and how it affects them and the people they know. Even though this was my "stretch" book, and it was a tough read, it was definitely worth it and was a good book.