Looks

by Madeleine George

Overview

An unforgettable debut novel about the way we look at others, and the way we see ourselves.

Meghan Ball is both the most visible and the most invisible person in school. Her massive size is impossible to ignore, yet people freely spill their secrets in front of her, perhaps because they think she isn't listening. But she is. Now her attention has turned to a new girl: Aimee Zorn, with her stick-figure body and defiant attitude. Meghan is determined to befriend Aimee, and when she ultimately succeeds, the two join forces to take down their shared enemy.

This provocative story explores the ways in which girls use food and their bodies to say what they cannot: I'm lonely.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440633126
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/12/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	261 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Madeleine George is an award-winning playwright and a founding member of the playwriting collective 13P. She is also the director of the Bard College satellite campus at Bayview Women’s Correctional Facility in Manhattan. Ms. George lives in New York City.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Startling emotional and physical portraits leave readers captivated.ùKirkus Reviews, starred review

A stand-out. ùBooklist, starred review

Difficult to put down. ùSchool Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up- This gripping tale of revenge goes beyond the stereotypical "outsiders get even" story. Meghan and Aimee are on opposite ends of the outcast spectrum. Meghan is extremely overweight, and it is more than hinted at that she has a binge-eating disorder. Aimee, on the other hand, is classic anorexic. Both girls have been hurt by one of the popular girls at school. They join forces to bring Cara down in a stunning bit of public humiliation. Themes of invisibility, familial dysfunction, and fitting in are all explored to some extent. Although the plot moves along at a fairly quick pace and keeps readers engaged, the ultimate conclusion is unsettling, to say the least. Aimee and Meghan become friends, but remain invisible to the other students at school. Cara rewrites what happened in her own head to remove any guilt from herself, and there is no resolution at all to a confrontation between the English teacher and the basketball coach, which looked to be a promising plot thread concerning sports versus academics. Neither girl receives any help with her eating disorder, even though Meghan's mother appears to be loving and Aimee's reaches out to her. Despite the loose ends, the story will make readers think about the various issues touched upon, and it is difficult to put down.-Robin Henry, Griffin Middle School, Frisco, TX

School Library Journal

Even though Meghan is fat and Aimee is thin, they have a lot in common: Both use food to cauterize pain and both feel deeply wronged by the same girl. Together, they seek revenge. Meghan's not just fat-she's vast, enormous. Silently, she navigates Valley High's hallways like an unreadable ocean liner. In contrast, Aimee darts from class to class, flinty, fierce and guarded. She's hound-dog skinny, with sharp bones protruding at her shoulders and knees. George extracts adolescent fears and coping mechanisms with surgical precision. Her startling emotional and physical portraits leave readers captivated. Teens will instantly understand why Meghan and Aimee seek invisibility: When unseen, one's far less likely to be hurt or exposed. Readers living with eating disorders will find unflinching accounts of binges and starvation as well. Luminous language places teens inside Meghan's and Aimee's struggling minds and bodies. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

Startling emotional and physical portraits leave readers captivated.—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

A stand-out. —Booklist, starred review

Difficult to put down. —School Library Journal

From the Publisher