Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies
by Erin Dionne
I couldn't help but pick this book up. The cover has Oreo-ish cookies all over it! Models + oreos (or Trader Joes Jo Jos/Newman O's in my house) = must read.
Summary
Eighth grader Celeste knows she's a bit overweight. She's comfortable with it though. She's comfortable with her track pants and hoodies, she's comfortable with her daily Oreo snack, and she's comfortable with her quiet (though not glamorous) existence at Al Ho Middle School. But one day, Celeste finds herself looking at her weight in a new light. After a torturous afternoon of being fitted for a hideous dress to wear in her cousin's wedding (and noting how her other cousin's slim, athletic frame looks good even in the "peach monstrosity"), Celeste's aunt picks up a flier for the HuskyPeach modeling competition and decides that Celeste just has to enter. Faced with the idea of having to be a model - and not just a model, but a HUSKY model - Celeste finds herself reconsidering her shape. Though she's powerless to do anything about the sneaky way her aunt enters her into the contest, Celeste decides she can still sabotage the whole thing and save her own dignity by shedding some pounds - no way she can be a HuskyPeach model if she has a "skinny banana" body, right?
And so begins an adventure in self-examination, friendship, confidence, growing up, and of course ... giving up those daily Oreo cookie snacks.
Worth staying up past bedtime?
Definitely worth it! I was intrigued by this book because I wanted to see how author Dionne would handle the issue of young girls and dieting. Many a chick lit novel has been built around the "fat girl loses weight in order to (insert goal of getting a man, revenge on an ex-friend, etc. here)," but with youngsters, there's a fine line that must be walked, in my opinion. I was happy to discover that Celeste was one smart cookie (ha!) when it came to re-vamping her diet. She didn't do anything stupid or harmful, but she also didn't act like the changes she made were the easiest thing in the world either. She still had to struggle and deal with temptation, along with the other issues that come with being 13.
I also enjoyed Dionne's portrayal of middle school social issues, and could totally relate to the daily drudgery of eighth grade that she described. There were a few cheesy scenes involving a teen pop star that made me roll my eyes, but ... well, I'm not 13 anymore either. : )
Definitely recommended, ages 12 and up.
