This was a good book. I wish I had read it when I was younger. (Shelley, Spring 2008)

This is another Judy Blume book I first read as a young teen, however I lost my copy and have recently bought it again. Deenie is beautiful and her sister Helen is clever. The girls have always been described this way by their family but both want to be more than just "the brains" and "the beauty" but the labels they have been given seem very hard to shake off. While Helen is pressured to study hard, Deenie is forced to audition as a teen model. But a comment at the audition leads Deenie to the doctor's office and a shocking diagnosis that ruins her mothers dreams and could ruin Deenie's life. The shockwaves rock the lives of the whole family. ( )

Cindy L. Carolan (Children's Literature Comprehensive Database)
A lovely thirteen-year-old girl is being pushed to pursue a career as a model by her mother. Deenie is the pretty daughter; her sister Helen is the brainy one. Modeling is not high on Deenie’s list of priorities; trying out for the cheerleading squad at her school is number one. Based on observations made in class and at the cheerleading try-outs, her gym teacher recommends that she see a doctor for curvature of the spine. Deenie is told that she has scoliosis and will need to wear a Milwaukee Brace, a formfitting plastic torso brace with a high metal neck collar used to hold the spine in the proper place as a young person grows. The tragedy of it is that she has to wear it for four years. While Deenie thinks this is the beginning of the end for her, she ultimately discovers--thanks to friends, family and even some strangers--that beauty is more than skin deep. Perhaps not as relevant as it was in the 1970s when originally published, this moving tale of adolescent development is still a good read. Recommended. 1981 (orig. 1973), Laurel-Leaf Books/Random House Children’s Books, $5.99. Ages 12 up.

A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis ( )

This book was somewhat important to me in my school days. I was diagnosed with a mild scoliosis in elementary school, and was terrified about what might happen if it ever got worse. (Fortunately, it didn't, and I never had to undergo treatment). I found this book both comforting and terrifying, though. One that definitely made an impression on my in my youth. ( )