Publishers Weekly
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White's story of a 17-year-old girl's ordeals with depression, addiction, and body image issues is all the more powerful because of its basis in truth. The story follows Stacy Black, whose nervous breakdown leads to her decision to check into the Golden Meadows Hospital for mental health. Given the thinly veiled name of the protagonist, it's no surprise that White is upfront about the events being drawn from her own experiences. Stacy begins with the simple goal of finding a way to be happy with her life again. What follows, though, is life-changing realizations about her drug dependency, her relationship with her mother, and her insecurities about her boyfriend. In the end, her most unexpected revelation is how serious her body image issues are, how much she'd accepted them as an ordinary part of her life, and how much damage they've done to her. White's very simple hand-drawn, b&w artistic style enhances the personal touch of the work, creating the effect of an illustrated diary. While text-heavy, the narration is clear-eyed and affecting. Ages 14-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 9 Up-White has created a semiautobiographical account of her battle with a mental disorder, bulimia, and drug addiction. Through a variety of formats, readers follow Stacy Black, 17, through this ordeal. The book is divided into chronological sections. Each one opens with text-only panels recording the responses of four friends to a question about Stacy. The densely packed text in these speech balloons requires some effort to wade through. This is followed by copies of documents such as portions of actual doctor and therapist reports. A series of panels then chronicles a period of Stacy's stay at Golden Meadows, a mental hospital. These cartoon panels are highly compelling and the book's strongest feature. White's arrangement of figures within each panel, especially during therapy sessions, exposes Stacy's emotional state. Changes in the artist's point of view inform readers of the teen's slowly changing perspectives of herself and her world. The line, "It's never a good idea to lie your way through therapy" hints at the big reveal in the final pages of the book: Stacy has hidden her episodes of bulimia from the hospital staff. While she tells the group, "I used to be bulimic. I don't have the urge anymore," she is continuing her ongoing dialogue with the toilet in her room. Young adults willing to stay with Stacy through the dense textual passages will find a compelling story.-Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
White tells a compelling and highly textured story (based on her own experiences) of learning to adjust to psychotherapy and bulimia in this graphic-novel story of small, angry 17-year-old high-school graduate Stacy Black. In addition to seeing Stacy's world confined mostly to the residential psychiatric hospital where she is a patient from her viewpoint, we are provided with accounts by four of her friends: one from childhood, a second from boarding school, another from her recent life before therapy, and the fourth from a fellow patient. Flat black-and-white images are highly expressive of Stacy's emotions, and the dense text panels and word balloons offer both background and cadence for the narrative. Dedicated graphic-novel readers may need to slow down to absorb the tiny print, but this is nonetheless an excellent crossover title for readers searching for an authentic account of psychotherapy, bulimia, and dealing with weighty physical and emotional issues.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 9 Up-White relives the pain of her residence in a psychiatric hospital in this thinly veiled personal account of angry 17-year-old high-school graduate Stacy Black. This memoir will resonate with those searching for an authentic representation of psychotherapy, bulimia, and other difficult physical and emotional issues. Black-and-white line drawings reveal White's slowly evolving self-understanding. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.