Reviews

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Meghan Ball is the fat girl nobody notices. She's hyper-aware, a keen observer of her classmates. Too-skinny Aimee Zorn is a talented poet who's seriously anorexic. After learning that Meghan's ex-friend plagiarized one of Aimee's poems, the two plan the girl's comeuppance. George's writing is sharp and insightful, and her treatment of eating disorders never devolves into sermonizing or stereotypes. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.


School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 8 Up-This gripping tale of revenge goes beyond the stereotypical "outsiders get even" story. Meghan and Aimee are on opposite ends of the outcast spectrum. Meghan is extremely overweight, and it is more than hinted at that she has a binge-eating disorder. Aimee, on the other hand, is classic anorexic. Both girls have been hurt by one of the popular girls at school. They join forces to bring Cara down in a stunning bit of public humiliation. Themes of invisibility, familial dysfunction, and fitting in are all explored to some extent. Although the plot moves along at a fairly quick pace and keeps readers engaged, the ultimate conclusion is unsettling, to say the least. Aimee and Meghan become friends, but remain invisible to the other students at school. Cara rewrites what happened in her own head to remove any guilt from herself, and there is no resolution at all to a confrontation between the English teacher and the basketball coach, which looked to be a promising plot thread concerning sports versus academics. Neither girl receives any help with her eating disorder, even though Meghan's mother appears to be loving and Aimee's reaches out to her. Despite the loose ends, the story will make readers think about the various issues touched upon, and it is difficult to put down.-Robin Henry, Griffin Middle School, Frisco, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Even though Meghan is fat and Aimee is thin, they have a lot in common: Both use food to cauterize pain and both feel deeply wronged by the same girl. Together, they seek revenge. Meghan's not just fat—she's vast, enormous. Silently, she navigates Valley High's hallways like an unreadable ocean liner. In contrast, Aimee darts from class to class, flinty, fierce and guarded. She's hound-dog skinny, with sharp bones protruding at her shoulders and knees. George extracts adolescent fears and coping mechanisms with surgical precision. Her startling emotional and physical portraits leave readers captivated. Teens will instantly understand why Meghan and Aimee seek invisibility: When unseen, one's far less likely to be hurt or exposed. Readers living with eating disorders will find unflinching accounts of binges and starvation as well. Luminous language places teens inside Meghan's and Aimee's struggling minds and bodies. (Fiction. 14 & up) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* Meghan Ball is fat. Hands like a ham fat. Aimee Zorn is blade thin. Anorexic. Despite her size, Meghan can will herself to invisibility unless a certain pack of boys latches on to her like they do sometimes, mocking and whispering dirty things in her ear. Aimee can barely control her fury, which she channels into her poetry and quells by starving herself. Both girls have, in their time, been befriended by self-satisfied Cara, who dumped Meghan as she grew bigger and more recently stole Aimee's poetry and passed it off as her own. Now, an unlikely, uneasy alliance is formed, and it's time for Meghan and Aimee to get even. George, a first-time novelist, covers familiar territory here weight issues, peer torment, the mercurial nature of relationships. Yet it is not so much what she writes about but how she does it that makes this a standout. At times using an omniscient narration and cutting away superficiality, allowing her characters to be shown in stark relief, George knows how to write anguish. It is this ability that also informs her depiction of adult characters, whose tarnished lives elicit sympathy from readers, even as the characters mostly feel contempt. There is a strong, almost dangerous quality here; even though you know what's going to happen next, there's a jolt of fearful anticipation before it plays out.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2008 Booklist