Hungry Ghost

by Victoria Ying

Overview

Winner of 2023 Harvey Award for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book

Valerie Chu is quiet, studious, and above all, thin. No one, not even her best friend, Jordan, knows that she has been bingeing and purging for years. But when tragedy strikes, Val finds herself reassessing her priorities, her choices, and her body. The path to happiness may lead her away from her hometown and her mother’s toxic projections—but first she will have to find the strength to seek help.

This beautiful and heart-wrenching young adult graphic novel takes a look at eating disorders, family dynamics, and ultimately, a journey to self-love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250767004
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	04/25/2023
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	145,830
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Victoria Ying is an author and artist living in Los Angeles. She started her career in the arts by falling in love with comic books, which eventually turned into a career working in animation and graphic novels. She loves Japanese curry, putting things in her shopping cart online and taking them out again, and hanging out with her dopey dog. Her film credits include Frozen, Moana, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and Paperman. She the illustrator of the DC Comics graphic novel Diana: Princess of the Amazons and the author and illustrator of her original graphic novels City of Secrets, and Hungry Ghost.

Editorial Reviews

Winner of 2023 Harvey Award for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book

"A gorgeously wrought, therapeutic story filled with tenderness and honesty."—Kirkus, starred review

"Ying gives readers an authentic, layered portrayal of disordered eating in both Val and her mother, sympathetic to each woman but also not letting them off the hook for their own contributions to a fatphobic society obsessed with making body size a moral measuring stick."—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"Ying's soft artwork, colored in pastel pinks and blues, nicely evokes Val's emotional journey through facial expressions and body language."—Booklist

“Hungry Ghost is heartbreaking, hopeful, and frank about figuring out how to love yourself and even the people in your life who might stand in the way of that self-love. It’s a beautiful, compelling book.” —Trung Le Nguyen, creator of The Magic Fish

“Victoria Ying gives us an unflinching look at eating disorders and loss in this heartbreaking story about learning to love yourself.” —Lily Williams, creator of Go With The Flow

“Such a beautiful, tragic, uplifting story about friendship and love. I wish I could have read this when I was a kid, but I’m also grateful that I’ve read it now. I’ll be thinking about its message for a long time.” —MariNaomi, creator of Distant Stars

From the Publisher

★ 2023-02-08
Valerie Chu’s secret is eating her alive.

Val has been pressured to stay thin for as long as she can remember, her mother’s own disordered eating habits bleeding over and taking control of hers. Though her mom cooks delicious Chinese dishes, she’s always quick to remind Val to watch what she eats, often body-shaming Val’s curvy White best friend, Jordan. Her friends gently tease Val for being so tiny, but none of them know about her disordered eating or her bulimic compulsions. While she’s kept both hidden all these years, her struggles come to a head while on a class trip to Paris. Unable to keep to her purging schedule and enjoy the sights, Val begins to reevaluate the importance of being thin. Just as she’s settling into this new mindset, a family tragedy throws her whole life into upheaval. Ying’s artwork is appropriately nuanced and expressive, approaching the topics of grief, eating disorders, and mental health conditions sensitively and complemented by Wong’s subdued palette of mint green, soft peach, slate gray, and light brown. Classic bordered panels fill the front half of the book with a sense of strict control that begins to unravel later in the story. The impact of social media on teen girls’ body image is also addressed: Val scrolls through Instagram several times, making the correlation between her unhappiness and the platform’s impact clear.

A gorgeously wrought, therapeutic story filled with tenderness and honesty. (content note, afterword, resources) (Graphic fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

02/13/2023

Ying (City of Secrets) offers up a clear-eyed graphic novel about Chinese American Valerie Chu’s challenges managing an eating disorder, inspired by the author’s own experiences, as outlined in an afterword. All Val wants is to be gwai—meaning good or obedient—for her mother. That means getting excellent grades, helping around the house, and above all, staying thin. Val’s mother frequently reminds her “don’t eat, just taste,” and often makes disparaging comments about Val’s best friend Jordan’s weight (“When you get that fat, it’s really hard to lose it,” she says). Her mother’s preoccupation with Val’s eating habits results in Val developing an unhealthy rapport with food, including purging after every meal. During a class trip to Paris, Val feels free from her mother’s watchful eye, but a family tragedy and a shocking confession from Jordan sends Val spiraling, forcing her to confront her destructive relationship with her body and her mother. Soft, pastel-toned illustrations and inimitably designed, emotive characters ferry a formidable story with a tidy ending that offers optimistic catharsis and healing for those contending with issues of anti-fat bias, body image, and disordered eating. Resources conclude. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

02/01/2023

Gr 10–12—The personal nature of Ying's graphic novel adds a deeply emotional layer to a book about disordered eating. Valerie Chu's mother constantly reminds her to watch what she eats to remain thin, while Valerie strives to be a good daughter. The external dialogue of this mother-daughter dynamic is internalized and carries over to how Valerie views herself and others, painfully equating thinness with likability and love. Then tragedy befalls the family, and Valerie snaps at her best friend, Jordan, leading to a climactic understanding of her need for outside help. This is a heartrending read, with visual depictions of the harrowing extent of Valerie's disorder; the ultimately hopeful ending underscores the need for counseling. Ying shows that while Valerie is able to grow as a character, making amends with Jordan and beginning her path toward healing with some distance from her mother, the journey will be an ongoing one. Emotions are gleaned from facial expressions and situational awareness rather than an overwritten plot. The story is enriched by the talented colors done by Lynette Wong. Using a muted, soft palette reminiscent of Brenna Thummler's Sheets and Delicates, the art sets a mood that complements Ying's story. Deceptively simple in presentation, with sparing dialogue, the graphic format shines here. An afterword describes the author's personal connection to the story, and additional resources are included in the back matter. VERDICT The book's path toward healing is an example of bibliotherapy for teens. An excellent choice for YA collections.—Alicia Abdul

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