Body Image Books

The Best Little Girl in the World

Steven Levenkron

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grand Central Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $0.99

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> Eating Disorders

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 170 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Fine..........If you're shallow 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I'm a nineth grader in a small town and am being told to read this book for my English class. My teacher spent valuable budget money on a class set of this junk and I'm severely appalled.

First thing first, this book is hardly appropriate for a guy to read and is not school suitable, either. It also contains a good deal of profain language.

It appears to have the capability of reverse physcology and is definately dangerous. If you're shallow enough to just take it with a grain of salt and only read enough to write the report....it's great, but if you read into it......it's just strange. It almost encourages anorexia nervosa. Definately plenty of stereotyping as well.

Good punctuation, though....kudos to the editor.


Verdict: Not Suitable for Teenage Girls, Guys of any Age, High School Students, and of-their-rocker English teachers.

Anabelle W., Age 15

Editorial Review:

Teenager Francesca Deitrich feels too fat, giving into the pressures of her ballet teacher and the pencil-thin models in the media, in a revealing story about a ""perfect"" little girl suffering from the destructive obsession of anorexia nervosa. Reprint."

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Marya Hornbacher

List Price: $23.00 By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $2.66

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 405 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

interesting 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book when I was already in solid recovery, and for me it was not triggering. If I had read it in an earlier stage it probably would have been, but what would have triggered me would be the envy I would feel over her results, as well as a desire to compete, to be as good at it, and the most triggering thing would have been the absence of any sort of happy ending, I would have been left feeling there was no hope of recovery. However, I don't see so much of a problem with the thing many others have focused their complaints on, the "tips and tricks". Since, frankly, those can easily be found in other places if one wants to find them, and its nothing particularly new.

What I both liked and disliked most about this was the way I could relate to it, there are so many things I recognize in my own life, from the early onset puberty, to the promiscuity in her teens, and especially her behaviour and personality. The reason I dislike the similarities of personality is of course that I didn't like her personality in the book, she does in my opinion come off as selfish, unlikeable, self absorbed, whiny, and the hardest part for me in reading about this is that 5 years ago, this was ME.

Also, the general approach to eating disordered people when I first went into treatment kind of glorified "us", describing us as selfless, driven, hardworking people-pleasers, almost saints - and I never felt the label fit me, I felt like I was being ascribed a number of traits I didn't have. And to be honest, I was left feeling for a long time that I was probably not that sick, since I didn't fit the label, I was probably doing it "wrong". I didn't particularly like having to explain that I was not in fact a saint, I just happened to throw up my food, so for me I think Wasted described the disease excellently, the way I experienced it.

Well, my personality has changed extremely since ED is no longer in my life, but I still look back with regret at all the pain I caused my family in those years, and the relationships and friendships I invariably destroyed, because when my ED was at its worst, I was impossible to live with, or like for that matter.

As for the book glorifying EDs, I must say it does in some way feel to me like it tries to. OR rather, I agree that its very clear it was written by someone who was still far from recovered, and still very much in the ED mentality, still missing her ED, and I do feel there is an undertone of "see how sick I was", and a feeling sometimes that she is bragging. For me that's not a problem now, rather it makes the book feel more realistic, and gives a very stark look at an eating disorder from the inside.

Ive recommended this book to family and friends who do not have eating disorders, since for me, it's a very good account of how I was, thought, felt, when I had my ED, it explains me better than I could myself. I like this book, but, I would not recommend it to someone still in the midst of an eating disorder, but to anyone else who wants to know what its like, yes.

Editorial Review:

"I fell for the great American dream, female version, hook, line, and sinker," Marya Hornbacher writes. "I, as many young women do, honest-to-God believed that once I Just Lost a Few Pounds, suddenly I would be a New You, I would have Ken-doll men chasing my thin legs down with bouquets of flowers on the street, I would become rich and famous and glamorous and lose my freckles and become blond and five foot ten." Hornbacher describes in shocking detail her lifelong quest to starve herself to death, to force her short, athletic body to fade away. She remembers telling a friend, at age 4, that she was on a diet. Her bizarre tale includes not only the usual puking and starving, but also being confined to mental hospitals and growing fur (a phenomenon called lanugo, which nature imposes to keep a body from freezing to death during periods of famine).

Am I Thin Enough Yet?: The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity

Sharlene Hesse-Biber

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 85 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether they are rich or poor, tall or short, liberal or conservative, most young American women have one thing in common--they want to be thin. And they are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to get that way, even to the point of starving themselves. Why are America's women so preoccupied with weight? What has caused record numbers of young women--even before they reach their teenage years--to suffer from anorexia and bulimia? In Am I Thin Enough Yet?, Sharlene Hesse-Biber answers these questions and more, as she goes beyond traditional psychological explanations of eating disorders to level a powerful indictment against the social, political, and economic pressures women face in a weight-obsessed society.
Packed with first-hand, intimate portraits of young women from a wide variety of backgrounds, and drawing on historical accounts and current material culled from both popular and scholarly sources, Am I Thin Enough Yet? offers a provocative new way of understanding why women feel the way they do about their minds and bodies. Specifically, Hesse-Biber highlights the various ways in which American families, schools, popular culture, and the health and fitness industry all undermine young women's self-confidence as they inculcate the notions that thinness is beauty and that a woman's body is more important than her mind. The author builds her case in part by letting her subjects tell their own story, revealing in their own words how current standards of femininity lead many women to engage in eating habits that are not only self-destructive, but often akin to the obsessions and ritualistic behaviors found among members of cults. For instance, we meet Delia, a bulimic college senior who makes the startling admission that "my final affirmation of myself is how many guys look at me when I go into a bar." We even learn of six-year-olds like Lauren, already preoccupied with her weight, who considers herself "a real clod" in ballet class because she is not as thin as her peers. We are introduced to women (and men) from different cultures who themselves have acquired eating disorders in pursuit of the American standard of physical perfection. And we learn of the often tragic consequences of this obsession with thinness, as in the case of Janet, who underwent surgery to reduce her weight only to suffer from chronic illness and pain as a result. The book concludes with Hesse-Biber's prescriptions on how women can overcome their low self-image through therapy, spiritualism, and grass-root efforts to empower themselves against a society obsessed with beauty and thinness.
Am I Thin Enough Yet? brings into sharp focus the multitude of societal and psychological forces that compel American women to pursue the ideal of thinness at any cost. It will remain a benchmark work on the subject for many years to come.

Real Gorgeous: The Truth about Body and Beauty

Kaz Cooke

Amazon Price: $17.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton & Company Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Guide to self-soothing 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 15 people found this review helpful.

"Road to Hell is paved with good intentions" - that's an exact characteristic of this book. Busting the unrealistic self-image sold to (or stuffed into) us by media and corporations is a great intention. But the book runs to the opposite extreme. Its main message repeated over and over is "Whatever you are - that's normal. Don't do anything, trust you body in its candy cravings and food selection and be happy, even if you ARE looking like a space-porker." Excuse me, but our modern environment, food quality and living habits are far, far away from being normal. And to restore the balance, to get close to a slight resemblance of normal the huge work needs to be done, including strict restraining yourself from over-eating over-processed over-refined food and getting a lot and lot of exercise. Suggested 15-20 minutes three times a week is laughable, you might as well call pushing button on your TV remote an exercising...

Editorial Review:

Kaz Cooke knew women needed a book that cut through the confusing and cruel messages about body image, beauty, eating disorders, diets, and cosmetic surgery. "Mostly, we needed a book that wasn't trying to sell us anything except self-confidence and the truth," says Cooke. "I couldn't find one so I had to write one." Written in the spirit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of body acceptance, Cooke playfully challenges some of the most oppressive misogynists of the 20th century: the beauty, fashion, and diet industries. Simultaneously funny and reassuring, Cooke boldly asserts her opinions and research on push-up bras (they dig and hurt), cellulite (it's a cosmetic company-induced condition, not a medical condition), and fashion models ("some of the most insecure, tortured souls around"). The cartoon illustrations offer comic and compassionate accents to this poignant discussion.

Life in the Fat Lane

Cherie Bennett

List Price: $15.95 By: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $0.02

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 163 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Nasty, yet Realistic, Protagonist 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Lara's life is perfect. She has everything going for her: she is one of the most popular girls in school, she is beautiful, she has a wonderful boyfriend and her family is great. Even though she is in high school, her father still calls her his princess and tells her all the time how beautiful she is. Her mother is thin and beautiful, too, and supports Lara as she enters and wins beauty pageants.

The best night of Lara's life is the night she wins the title of Homecoming Queen as a junior. She has officially been voted by her peers the most beautiful and the most popular girl in school. The only thing that makes this night slightly less than perfect is the fact that she tries to help Patty, the fattest girl in school, by offering to exercise with her to help her lose weight. Patty insults her and rejects her offer. Lara thinks to herself that Patty, like all fat people, is just too lazy to make any effort to lose the weight.

Soon after homecoming, something awful begins to happen to Lara. She starts to gain weight. At first it's just a few pounds she thinks she can diet and exercise off. But then it's more and more. The more Lara diets and exercises, the more weight she gains. Her mother and father don't believe she is trying to lose the weight. Her father tells her she needs to have more willpower, and he stops calling her princess. Lara's popularity is disappearing fast, and she can't do anything about it. How will she adjust to her new life as a fat girl?

I liked the honest treatment of Lara toward the end of the book, when she has gained a bunch of weight. The author didn't romanticize or try to make it seem like things were still the same for Lara. Her entire life and all of her happiness was wrapped up in being pretty, so it was reasonable to me that she would struggle a great deal to redefine herself. Although I didn't like the character of Lara, I thought the way she reacted was the way most teens in her situation would. Just because she gained weight, it wouldn't necessarily mean she equated herself with others who were overweight. A prejudice as deep as hers and as accepted in society as hers, would take a great deal of time to dissipate. It would have seemed unrealistic to me if Lara's perceptions of beauty and worth were radically changed by the end of the book.

Editorial Review:

THERE'S A PERFECT GIRL at every school, yours included. You know her. Beautiful. Talented. Smart. Great parents. Cool boyfriend. You can’t even hate her, because, of course, she’s so nice.

At Forest Hills High, Lara Ardeche is that girl.

But things can change.

“Skillfully drawn, resulting in a compelling story. . . . An enjoyable and thought-provoking read.”—School
Library Journal

“Readers will be totally caught up in Lara’s struggle to find her true self under all that weight.”—Booklist

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults

The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls

Joan Jacobs Brumberg

List Price: $25.00 By: Random House Amazon Marketplace: 68 new & used starting at $0.36

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fair Attempt to Explain a Growing Problem 3 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I see how girls/young women stuggle to achieve a very unrealistic ideal of beauty and how middle aged women stuggle to hang on to what they had as young women. As I approach 50, I know I am expected to stay trim, fit and muscular in spite of the fact that my body struggles mightly against it, especially since pregnancy and child birth.

As for the book, it is heavily researched and some of that research does involve journals from the 19th century and beyond. The first chapter is about how girls' bodies are maturing at a much faster rate than those of their fore sisters and the implications of this. Interesting.

The second chapter covers menstruation and menarche in detail. It is really too long. The basic premise of the chapter is how menarche has become consumerized. Mothers provide their daughters with all the mass manufactured equipment and not much else. The author wants menarche to be explained to girls as the time they enter womanhood, but I have a problem with this for two reasons. #1 Most girls are entering menarche at a time when they are not even remotely ready to be women. #2 When I enter menopause, am I exiting womanhood?

The third chapter covers the quest for perfect skin. It is page after page covering the subject of acne and how it has been dealt with over the past century. This, also, the author feels has been very much consumerized, as mothers take their daughters to the doctors and buy any and every cream and potion to relieve their daughters' agony.

The fourth chapter deals with the history of girls trying to achieve the perfect body and the fifth with the disappearance of virginity and how women have gained sexual freedom, but this has also filtered down to girls in middle school and high school and most of these girls and young women are ill equipped mentally and emotionally to deal with the ramifications of their sexuality.

The overall ideals in the book are excellent. The fact that girls have lost their closeness with mothers, aunts, teachers and other female role models. The fact that most of their learning comes from the media and girls their own ages. The fact that outward beauty is what females are judged by rather than beauty that comes from inside. The fact that girls are no longer protected through the family unit. They are sexually active earlier and earlier and often with older men and not boys of their own age. They have been sold the goods of freedom and independence when they are really not ready for them, etc.

Unfortunately, the book did not so much back up these ideas, but more harped on consumerism...the buying of feminine products, make up, clothes, etc. I am pretty sure this is but I small part of the problem.

Editorial Review:

Adolescent girls today face the issues girls have always faced: "Who am I?" and "Who do I want to be?" Unfortunately their answers, now more than ever before, revolve around the body rather than the mind, heart, or soul. "The body is at the heart of the crisis that [Carol] Gilligan, [Mary] Pipher, and others describe.... The fact that American girls now make the body their central project is not an accident or a curiosity," writes Brumberg, "it is a symptom of historical changes that are only now beginning to be understood." The historical photos, thorough research, and political even-handedness make this a book of worth and sincerity. The Body Project is also comforting for women, adolescents, parents, lesbians, and male lovers of women--helping us sort out the roots of female insecurities, obsessions, and angst.

New Teenage Body Book

Kathleen McCoy

List Price: $15.95 By: Perigee Trade Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Adolescence is one of the most excruciatingly embarrassing, developmentally difficult, and hormonally intoxicating times of life. Whether you're a teen trying to deal with the ineptitude of your parents or a parent trying to deal with the turmoil of your teen, it's pretty likely that you could use some help. Enter The New Teenage Body Book; winner of the American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults Award, this guide provides straightforward answers to the toughest questions about adolescence.

The editors have divided teens' letters into several subject areas: Woman's Body/Woman's Experience, Man's Body/Man's Experience, Your Changing Feelings, Your Troubling Feelings, Eating for Good Health, Exercising for Good Health, You and Your Sexuality, The Truth About Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Birth Control: An Ounce of Prevention, and Am I Normal? Questions are answered with clear, factual, nonjudgmental responses. The detailed information contained in this frank, honest guide may at times startle the squeamish, but readers will greatly appreciate the candid approach to questions harbored by humans of all ages.

What's Real, What's Ideal: Overcoming a Negative Body Image (Teen Health Library of Eating Disorder Prevention)

Brangien Davis

Amazon Price: $29.25 List Price: $29.25 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rosen Publishing Group Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Nobody is born with a negative body image. It is something that you learn, something that develops over time."

One of the more subtle titles in the Teen Health Library of Eating Disorder Prevention series, What's Real, What's Ideal: Overcoming a Negative Body Image offers a thoughtful, thorough, and pragmatic exploration of the relationship between teenagers' perceptions of their bodies and their overall health and well being. Bursting with factual information, realistic color photographs, and mini-stories about teens' challenges with their physical appearances, this book maintains a casual and friendly tone throughout. It's the kind of honest, informative text that flies off school library shelves.

Aimed at both male and female teens, What's Real engages readers with quizzes and checklists to help them determine if they're suffering from negative body image or displaying warning signs of an eating disorder. It tracks the causes of negative body image and discusses what this attitude can lead to--excessive dieting, compulsive eating, full-blown eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, even self-mutilation.

The most remarkable part of the book is the final third, which urges teens to take responsibility for their attitudes about their bodies. Acknowledging that "it may be the hardest thing you ever do," author Brangien Davis offers up pages and pages of creative, concrete suggestions to help teens recast their views of themselves and--in turn--the world around them. (Ages 11 and older) --Jean Lenihan

When Food's a Foe: How You Can Confront and Conquer Your Eating Disorder

Nancy J. Kolodny

List Price: $10.95 By: Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap) Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Saving Grace 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Nancy Kolodny's reader-friendly writing style will be a welcome change for those who are seeking help but not finding it in typical scientific-type analyses. The letters from people suffering from Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia give the reader a marvellously comforting "you are not alone" feeling.

An absolutely must-read for anyone suffering from an eating disorder, or family and friends of same.

useless 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As someone who has an eating disorder, and has actually worked with Nancy, this book is absolutly useless. There are many other more helpful books out there, I would recommend something by Zerbe.

Editorial Review:

The revised and updated edition of this reliable book includes the latest information about eating disorders as well as extensive resources for support.