Tag Archives: body image

Review: Pillow Talk by Stephanie Cooke and Mel Valentine Vargas

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,
Pillow Talk by Stephanie Cooke and Mel Valentine Vargas

Pillow Talk
Stephanie Cooke
Illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas
HarperAlley
Published April 30, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Pillow Talk

Grace Mendes a.k.a. Cinderhella is a fierce competitor in the PFF, a pillow fight federation that’s part roller derby, part professional wrestling. But in this fresh, coming-of-age YA graphic novel, Grace needs to learn to overcome her biggest enemy: herself. For fans of Check, Please and Bloom.

When college freshman Grace Mendes reluctantly attends her first pillow fight match, she falls in love with the surprisingly gritty sport. Despite her usually shy, introverted, and reserved nature, Grace decides to try out for the Pillow Fight Federation (PFF), a locally famous league of fighters with larger-than-life personas like Pain Eyre, Miss Fortune, and champion Kat Atonic. They may battle with pillows, but there is nothing soft about these fighters. The first and only rule to pillow fighting is that the pillow needs to be the first point of contact; after that, everything else goes.

Grace struggles with deep-seated body image issues, so she is especially shocked when she makes the competitive league and is welcomed into the fold of close knit, confident fighters. As her first official fight performing as newly crafted alter-ego/ring persona Cinderhella looms on the horizon, the real battle taking place is between Grace and her growing insecurities. What if people laugh or make fun of her? Why did she think she could pillow fight in the first place when she doesn’t look like your “typical” athlete? Turns out, no one is laughing when Cinderhella dominates her first match in the ring. And as her alter-ego rises through the ranks of the PFF, gaining traction and online fame (and online trolls), can Grace use the spotlight to become an icon for not just others, but most importantly, for herself?

Pillow Talk is an inclusive, high-octane, outrageously fun graphic novel that aims a punch at the impossibly high standards set for women in sports (and otherwise) and champions the power of finding a team that will, quite literally, fight for you. A knock-out! 

My Review

This was such a fun read! I was a little nervous at the very beginning that Callie, Grace’s best friend, was going to turn out to be a mean girl that Grace worked really hard to stay friends with. She comes off as selfish and self-serving in the first few scenes, but gradually, I started to see more sides of her. From there, it pretty quickly became clear why Grace likes her and why their friendship works. She has flaws, for sure, but she cares about Grace a lot, which was awesome.

I love the way this book celebrates female friendship. From Grace’s relationship with her roommate Callie to her connections to the other PFF fighters, Pillow Talk showcases the power that comes from people, especially women, lifting one another up. (One major character is nonbinary, and they do a lot of lifting up, too.) I really liked the way the book highlighted that without making it the point of the story.

Grace is also just awesome. I loved seeing her come alive in her fights and embrace being Cinderhella, the persona she created. She faces fear and doubt because she’s a plus-sized girl in a judgy world. The scenes that explored those feelings showed her vulnerability and hurt in ways that were so easy to connect with and made me root for her even more.

Readers looking for a fun story about friendships and wrestling or girls in sports will really enjoy this graphic novel.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Grace is Latina and plus-sized. Callie has had relationships with boys and girls. One nonbinary character is in a relationship with a girl. The rest of the PFF team is a pretty racially diverse group.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very rarely.

Romance/Sexual Content
One kiss between two girls. One kiss between a nonbinary person and a girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Pillow fight matches show characters swinging pillows at one another as part of wrestling moves. One fighter appears to get injured at one point, but a medical staff member checks her out, and she’s okay.

Drug Content
The PFF team go out for drinks and karaoke. (Grace and Callie are in their first year of college, but some of the other team members are older.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

A Work in Progress
Jarrett Lerner
Aladdin
Published May 2, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Work in Progress

A young boy struggles with body image in this poignant middle grade journey to self-acceptance told through prose, verse, and illustration.

Will is the only round kid in a school full of string beans. So he hides…in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn’t the only feeling that dominates Will’s life. He’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who knows he doesn’t have a chance with—string beans only date string beans—but he can’t help wondering what if?

Will’s best shot at attracting Jules’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing.

As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.

My Review

I feel like this graphic novel was an unusual choice for me, but the topic and the fact that it’s told in verse really made me want to read it.

The story itself has some truly heartbreaking scenes. It shows the terrible power words can have when they’re weaponized against someone. It shows the power the words we use about ourselves have over us, too. My favorite thing, though, is its message about the power of friendship. I loved the message about how being truly seen by another person can be a huge step toward healing.

I also love the message about all of us being a work in progress, that we are changing all the time. That we have the power to change. It’s such a powerful, hopeful message. This is definitely a book worth reading, whether you’ve experienced the kind of bullying or loneliness Will has or not.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are white. Will struggles with body image and disordered eating.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Will has a crush on a girl at school.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A boy calls Will fat in a cruel way, and he begins saying cruel things to himself. He stops eating at one point.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of A WORK IN PROGRESS in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Also, it’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday! Check out the other MMGM posts at Always in the Middle.

Review: Just a Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Just a Few Inches
Tara St. Pierre
CreateSpace

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Carrie finds the perfect dress for the Valentine’s Day dance, she buys it, even though it’s a size too small. Though she only has days to prepare for the dance, she radically changes her food intake and begins taking diet pills, more than the recommended dose. She slims down just in time for the dance. The dress, the night with her boyfriend, everything is perfect. Until Carrie realizes it isn’t only her waist that’s smaller. It’s her. She’s shrinking. Doctors scramble to find a cure while Carrie grows ever smaller. As she shrinks, she loses social status, but even worse, her independence. As she gets smaller each day, she begins to wonder if doctors will find a cure in time, or if she’ll shrink until she disappears.

When I first saw this book, I thought it was going to be about anorexia. And certainly at first, Carrie’s dangerous foray into diet pills and extreme dieting seem to be part of behaviors and ideas that lead to anorexia. But she quits the pills and dieting once the dance is over. And then the real trouble begins. Carrie starts out at more than five and a half feet tall. Before the story ends, she shrinks several feet. So it was really more about how her change in height affects her relationships at school and home. Her parents begin to treat her like a much younger child. Her boyfriend finds it difficult to continue their romance. It also changes her role on the cheer squad and eventually her ability to attend school.

So it was definitely different than I expected. I liked that it was a fresh, different story. Some of the descriptions of things Carrie experiences related to her height changes were really vivid and interesting. In other ways, I was left wondering what things were like for her. I couldn’t always tell if she was literally shrinking with all of her physical proportions remaining the same, or if she was shrinking like growing in reverse order, so that proportionally she’d be more like a toddler as she shrank that small?

Though the real story is Carrie’s emotional journey in realizing her value doesn’t come from her height, some of that gets undercut by her parents’ treatment of her. Then, the resolution of her medical issues happens in a quick montage at the end, and I felt like those moments didn’t get the emphasis they deserved.

Her relationship with her friends on the cheer squad is a high point in the story. Readers looking for stories about friendship and self-image may find this one scratches those itches.

Cultural Elements
The characters are pretty homogenous. Everyone seems to be white middle class.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Carrie and her boyfriend kiss in the back seat of his car. She lets him touch her breasts. Later, they go up to his room and she reports that they have sex. No details. When her medical troubles start, her doctor asks if she’s sexually active, and because her mom is present, Carrie lies. She feels ashamed about lying.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Carrie takes diet pills and doesn’t follow the instructions. She takes much more than the dosage she should.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

 

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Review: Never Said by Carol Lynch Williams

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Never Said
Carol Lynch Williams
Zondervan

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

In the midst of her devastation over a break-up, Sarah realizes something isn’t right with her twin. Annie has been withdrawing from the family for some time, but her behavior seems to be escalating. She chops off her hair, gains weight, and gives up the beauty pageants she once lived for. Though shy and socially anxious Sarah has always been jealous of the way her parents favor Annie, she begins to worry about her sister. Sarah pushes toward her sister, and finds that in return, Annie reluctantly opens up to her.

The writing style was the first thing that captured me in this story. The voice is strong, conveying Sarah’s inner agony and Annie’s mounting frustration with aching clarity. There was one moment at the beginning where I felt like the story was a bit repetitive in describing Sarah’s reaction to her family’s interactions. Other than that, things moved forward at a great pace, and I tore through the story in one sitting of just a few hours.

Annie’s weight gain dramatically changes the way the other students interact with her. While Annie feels that her new look is a shield against unwanted male attention, she also endures some hateful behavior from other kids. The exploration of body image and how weight affects the way others perceive us is important. Williams doesn’t shy away from the sad reality there. Annie eventually decides to return to her old look, and while I get it, I found myself wishing somehow that there had been a bigger pause, a bigger moment to say that it really doesn’t/shouldn’t matter what her weight is. Returning to her slimmer figure doesn’t increase her actual value, though it functioned as an indicator of Annie’s rising sense of her own value – she’d been hiding behind those extra pounds and shedding them would be like facing an enemy head-on. It showed real courage.

The resolution was a bit quick. All the way through the story Annie hints that she has a secret. It smells like sexual abuse, but we don’t find out what it is until the big reveal maybe three-quarters of the way through the story. Once this comes out, Sarah takes some action to protect her sister. Following this, we get kind of a summary of how everyone responded and what happened after that (visit spoiler section if you want to know more.) I felt like some of that was a bit rushed and didn’t allow me a chance to soak in the characters’ emotions in what was a really big moment.

I loved watching the sisters’ relationship develop. As a girl with two sisters, one close enough in age that we were often mistaken for twins, the tug-of-war Annie and Sarah experienced in terms of establishing their own identities and finding ways to connect despite their differences and pressure from parents or friends felt extremely real.

As I read, I found myself looking for the spiritual tie-in. Though this is a Zondervan book, there was not really any link that I could see to pursuing a Christian faith or even searching out questions about whether God is real or anything like that. I found it a bit puzzling, to be honest.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
Sarah recalls time spent with her boyfriend snuggling in his bed (clothed), kissing, and sneaking in/out of each other’s rooms. (see below for additional content which includes spoilers.)

Spiritual Content
None.

Shocked? Me too. Despite the fact that Zondervan is a Christian publisher… I can’t remember faith really playing any sort of role whatsoever in the story.

Violence
None.

Drug Content
None.

SPOILER (select the text below to read…)
Sexual content continued… Annie reveals that she’s no longer a virgin and that she’s had sex with a married man, even after she told him no. It’s a quick conversation and there’s not a lot of follow-up information.

While I appreciate that we weren’t dragged through the gory details of Annie’s relationship, I kind of felt like the resolution of this information, which the whole story has been building up to, was too quick and too many things were left unsaid. We have enough infer that it’s a bad relationship from the brief information Annie reveals, and there’s a brief wrap-up letting us know that this guy isn’t going to get off scot-free. I just felt like it needed to be a bigger moment. I wanted to really feel Annie’s parents realize what’s been happening and see them respond to her with all the shock, horror, and protection, rather than just have Sarah tell us that was so.