Artichoke's Heart

August 1, 2008
Gr 8-10-Rosemary Goode doesn't have a carefree life; being an overweight binge eater makes her self-conscious around other teens, and her Aunt Mary's constant criticizing doesn't help matters. Rosemary works at her mother's salon, where she sees the beautiful and popular girls getting primped for dances. Her single mother tries to help her, buying a treadmill (on which Rosemary hangs clothes) and arranging for therapy sessions. Rosemary's friendship with a fitness-obsessed, friendly new girl improves her outlook on exercise, and a budding relationship with Kyle, a popular athlete at school, confuses and exhilarates her. Her mother's cancer diagnosis shocks and unnerves her, but the teen and her mom deal with the situation with realism and honesty. Rosemary is a funny, sharp, and appealing narrator; Supplee has good insight into high school life, especially cliques, and teenage body issues. Cancer and obesity are handled with humor, care, and sensitivity. Southern euphemisms and speech are sprinkled throughout the novel, which takes place in a small town in Tennessee, but not to excess. This has the breezy fun of recent YA chick lit, but with an uncommon heroine dealing with serious issues."Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
Cursed with the nicknamethe Artichokeafter wearing an ill-chosen green jacket to school way back in sixth grade, Rosemary continues to cope with the cool kids disdain by making food her friend. Its a treacherous ally, though, and when she tops 200 pounds, she decides to make radical changes and begins to lose some serious weight.Then, Rosemary discovers that an A-list girl wants to befriend her, the boy she adores returns her feelings, and (most incredible of all) her mother has cancer. Rosemarys wry first-person narration deftly portrays characters in her single-parent family, her high school, her mothers beauty salon, and her Tennessee town. Jolted by fears of losing her mother, Rosemary begins to look beyond her previous preoccupations tosee other peoples vulnerabilities as well as their more evident flaws. In her first novel, Supplee brings a cast of original characters to life in thisconvincing and consistently entertaining narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)