Perfect

By Natasha Friend (audio)

Published By Milkweed Editions (2004)

Summary:
Things have been turned upside down in the Lee family recently with the death of their father two years ago and a mother that is an emotional wreck, Isabelle and her younger sister, April, must find new ways of coping with their new life. When April discovered Isabelle throwing up after eating, Isabelle must go to group therapy every week and discuss her problems with an eating disorder. She is shocked to find that the most popular, beautiful, perfect girl in school is also in the group. Isabelle must learn how to help herself and her family get back on track and learn to love themselves, each other, and their memories, no matter how reluctant they are.

My Review:
This was a sweet story with a powerful look into underlying causes for some problems that teenagers have. Isabelle is extremely hard on herself and criticizes her appearance constantly and readers realize that it has so much more to do than just her weight and her features, but that her need for perfection can also stem from outside influences and problems. This book showed that everyone can have problems no matter how put-together they seem on the outside and it helped me be more sensitive to those around me.

WARNING: Binging and purging, group therapy, low-self esteem, death in the family, and emotional problems are present throughout the book. I would not recommend this to very young readers because if they do not understand the message of the book, they may just take away the negative traits as solutions for problems.

To find out how to recieve help on eating disorders for yourself or someone you know, click here for more information.

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