Not Hungry

Starred review from July 1, 2019
Free verse provides an introspective voice for a teen struggling with an eating disorder. Unhappy with her weight, June engages in severe dieting and keeps her determined attempts to starve herself secret. When Toby moves in next door, she learns he has his own private shame. Consequently, he keeps his relationship with June hidden and separate from his life as a popular basketball player. While June tries to binge and purge her way to thinness, she still sees the beauty in her own plus-sized sister, Mae, and awaits the day Mae sees it, too. Quinn (Down With the Shine, 2016, etc.) reveals what her characters want to hide as readers hope for a righteous ending. The physical layout of the text conveys profound truths about friendship, loyalty, and payback in accessible language that never obstructs the power of the message. Conversations are italicized, and lines that slip and slide, stagger and indent quietly communicate all the drama of high school to readers. Parents are inconsequential as the teens navigate societal expectations while trying desperately not to let their masks slip. Exquisite writing allows each poem to be savored individually as readers find bits of themselves reflected in the situations and characters and cheer on the unlikely hero. Characters are presumed white. Rhythm, repetition, and carefully crafted writing relate the challenges of a teen girl reluctant readers would love to befriend. (Verse novel. 14-18)

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