Friday, June 26, 2009

Young Adult Novel Features Positive Message for Weight-Conscious Girls

The protagonist of the new young adult novel "Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies," is an overweight 13-year-old girls who is desperate to lose weight in order to avoid winning the Miss HuskyPeach modeling competition for plus-sized girls.

The novel's author, Erin Dionne, told Cate Lecuyer of The Salem News that although she didn't set out to write a book about weight and body issues, she made sure the character she created has a positive message for young readers:
Girls today are so bombarded by the media and images of beauty. You never see anything less than perfection. It was very important to me that Celeste didn't lose a lot of weight. She's not skinny at the end. In no way did I want to send the message that thin equals happier. ...

Instead of eating her Oreos, she has an apple for a snack. At one point, she does try a diet drink and throws up all over the gym teacher's shoes and says never again will I take the easy way out.
In her June 23 article, Lecuyer reported that Dionne's novel has been chosen to be a featured title by Scholastic Book Fairs, and has also been nominated for the American Library Association's 2010 Popular Paperbacks List.

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