From School Library Journal
Grade 6–8—On Jane's 12th birthday, her older sister is hospitalized, and Jane is swept into a series of painful events that swirl around beautiful, smart, and popular Lizzie, ensnaring the entire family. Her problem manifests itself as an eating disorder but ends with her death, possibly a suicide. Jane's narration reveals how she and her parents handle Lizzie's death, with each of them coming to grips with her actions first individually and with anger, and then together. Jane begins to rebuild her life when she's cared for by an understanding woman when her mother, unable to cope, leaves to visit her parents and her father has a business trip. She gets a puppy, learns to focus through a camera lens, and befriends a boy who has also suffered loss. Characterizations are plausible in this ultimately hope-filled story. Though similar in theme to Laurie Halse Anderson's
Wintergirls (Viking, 2009), this book can be appreciated by younger readers as it is thoughtfully revealed from Jane's perspective.—
Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Jane has always been in her perfect sister Lizzie’s shadow, but the two are nevertheless best friends. When Lizzie loses her battle with anorexia, Jane’s family plunges into despair, and her parents feel the need to separate to come to terms with their loss. Left with an eccentric babysitter, a new puppy, a new friend who is a boy, and a digital camera, Jane learns that she is stronger than she thought and can survive the tragedy. Told in simple yet emotional prose, this touches the heart and explores the impact anorexia can have on a family unit. The ending, however, is a letdown compared to the gut-wrenching and emotional heart of the book. Nevertheless, readers will be drawn into Jane’s story and put into the place of the forgotten, younger sister in a family where everyone else is overly fragile. Grades 5-8. --Melanie Koss
