The Best Little Girl in the World

One of the worst novels I've ever read about eating disorders and yet it somehow has this hypnotic hold over the reader...a much, much better novel is _Winter Girls_ by Laurie Halse Anderson. It does not glamorize anorexia nor make it seem like something good...or something off of a "pro-ana" website. Levenkron's novel, unfortunately, is like a play-by-play manual...overrated and well-known for all the wrong reasons.

This captivating novel takes a close look further into the issues many young girls struggle with today. Francesca is a thriving adolescent dancer, faced with the many pressures to acheive the image of "perfection". As Francesca begins to build and get trapped in her own world of obsession, and starts to literally fade away, she creates an alter-ego, named Kessa. Kessa doesn't need to eat; eating is messy, greedy and unnecessary. In Kessa's eyes, 'thinner is the winner'. Through this heart-felt novel, you will come through and learn more about the obsession that kills, and about a girl who merely escaped the grasp it held upon her.

This book felt too much like the author had taken the DSM definition of anorexia and written a book around it, without any understanding of what it's actually like other than that definition. Everything resolves itself way too quickly and easily to be believable too. I went into this book with admittedly mediocre expectations, and that's about what I left it feeling.

This young adult book examines the mind of a young anorexic girl. While it is a compelling read for the under 15 set (who tend to read it for ideas more than anything else), it does not age well.

This book touches extremely touchy topics. Anorexia Nervosa is a serious disorder, and many people fight with this disorder everyday. This story revolves around a girl named Francesca. She is 15, and weighs 81 lbs. at her lowest. Her parents force her to eat, sleep, drink, and other things that teenagers should be doing, but that her least priority. She suffers from something that could potentially take her life, and nobody knows how serious it really is until she is forced to quit the things she loves most.

Read this book to death in high school (I think I actually ended up stealing it from the library).