Not what I expected. In a good way. ( )

Isabelle's father has died and her mother, mired in grief, retreats to her own world, leaving her 2 girls to fend for themselves. Isabelle develops an eating disorder, but through therapy makes some improvements. ( )

Isabelle has to go to Group Therapy sessions because she was caught vomiting after a meal. Here she meets the most popular girl in her eighth-grade class, Ashley. She and Ashley start hanging out together. Ashley is the only child of two very busy parents who, it turns out, don't like each other any more and are going to get divorced. Ashley is a binge eater who then vomits immediately after. She and Isabelle start bingeing together. Even when Ashley vomits up blood, it doesn't make an impact on Isabelle. What does is when Isabelle discovers many Cliff Notes in Isabelle's desk drawer, making her a "cheater." Finally, Isabelle begins to actually talk to the counselor and journal her bereft feelings about her father's death, and how her mother is not coping. She and her younger sister plan a Hanukkah celebration that brings all these feelings to a head so that, at the least, the two sisters and mother can talk about the father now.
This was an upsetting book to me because it seemed to give no hope for Ashley, who would go on bingeing and purging. It even gave out information about how Diet Coke could bring on the purges.
I'm sure it would be popular and a good book for younger teens and even tweens how can realize that even the very popular kids have problems.

This book was very powerful. I love it. It is about a girl who makes herself throw up, but as part of a deal she has to go to a therapy group, and when she is there she finds out the most popular girl in school has the same problem. They become friends and help each other get over their problems.

According to the back of the audio CD case, Perfect has received the Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature and is a Book Sense Winter Picks selection. The audio CD version of Perfect was among the 2007 Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults from Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Author Natasha Friend does a very good job of introducing the subject of bulimia, as well as the emotional causes and physical effects of the eating disorder. Friend uses Isabelle’s therapy sessions to initiate open dialogue conversations between the story’s characters. Friend’s use of journaling in the therapy sessions offers the reader an example of how teens can express and talk about their feelings and emotions. Perfect is filled with humor and sadness. The binging and purging rituals are terrifying scenes. Your heart goes out to the girls. You can feel their pain as they eat anything and everything in sight only to lose control and intentionally purge all they have eaten—a perfect routine. Perfect is a book that deals with a very real problem. Books such as Perfect may break the silence of a young adult who is secretly suffering from a life-threatening eating disorder. Friend has also written two other books: (1) Lush deals with an alcoholic father and (2) Bounce deals with the subjects of stepfamilies and relocation. ( )