Paperweight

Starred review from May 4, 2015
Books about teenagers with eating disorders are numerous (as are teens with eating disorders); Haston’s contribution to the genre stands out for the complexity of its characters and for small, telling details that demonstrate just how difficult recovery can be. Seventeen-year-old Stevie has been restricting her eating since her mother deserted the family; Stevie’s father is in no shape to challenge her, and though her brother, Josh, tries to reach out, Stevie ignores him. Then Josh dies in an accident that Stevie believes is her fault. When her father finally sends her to rehab, a furious Stevie takes comfort in the red bracelet that marks her non-compliance. Haston (the How to Rock series) expertly renders Stevie’s scorn and suspicion, and it’s tempting to root for her badass defiance—except that it will kill her. As Stevie slowly comes to trust her therapist and care about the roommate she initially dismissed as chubby, readers will instead look for her to give up the illusion of control and find a way to accept the weight of her past and face the idea of a future. Ages 14–up. Agency: Alloy Entertainment.

May 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-This realistic tale opens as Stephanie (Stevie) arrives at a 60-day residential treatment facility for eating disorder, located in rural New Mexico. Back in Atlanta, Stevie thought she had it all figured out-how to starve herself slowly (except when she got drunk, binged, and purged) so that she would be dead in a year. The treatment center proves to be a challenge, though, and a strict routine dictates Stevie's existence day to day: therapy with "Shrink," carefully portioned meals and snacks designed to help Stevie gain weight, group therapy, and medications. The teen resists her therapist's efforts to talk about her past, but flashbacks reveal the events that led to the extreme illness she is now battling. Joshua (her beloved "Irish twin" brother) died in a car accident nearly one year ago and the protagonist blames herself. An enabling friend Eden seems to be a mysterious reason for the accident. And Stevie's restrictive and distant mother abandoned the family to go live in Paris. The girl's exterior armor is painstakingly chipped away (with setbacks, of course) and she begins to uncover the truth of her past until it all becomes clear to Stevie and to readers. Despite her flaws, it is hard not to feel for Stevie. A carefully constructed buildup still lends to a quick read, which is hard to put down. Haston deals respectfully with the difficult subject matters of eating disorders and focuses on the recovery rather than the disease. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls (Viking, 2009).-Tara Kehoe, New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, Trenton

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Struggles with self-image and grief fill this novel. It's been nearly a year since Stevie's brother, Josh, died, and in that time, the eating disorder she already had has accelerated. Sent to a treatment facility in New Mexico by her father, Stevie is resistant and angry. She is still upset over her mother's leaving the family, and worse, Stevie believes she killed her brother. Now she just wants to be home with Eden, her friend and hookup partner, and to carry out her plans for the one-year anniversary of Josh's death: to starve herself to death. Between her frequent therapy sessions and her concern about her roommate, Stevie tries to confront what really led to Josh's death, in passages that occasionally moralize. Until she actually grieves the death of her brother, she won't be able to recover from her eating disorder or learn how to make better choices. But choosing to live isn't easy, Stevie discovers. There are so many issues at play in this novel that readers may find it difficult to see Stevie as a person instead of a bundle of problems. The slow unveiling of the events of the previous summer, before Josh's death, doesn't create any tension, and overall the story moves from plot point to plot point. A diligent problem novel if not a gripping one. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2015
After the death of her beloved brother Josh, seventeen-year-old Stevie Deslisle is overwhelmed by guilt, grief, and a worsening eating disorder. She's drinking too much and eating too little; her only remaining aspiration is to waste away completely by the anniversary of Josh's death. But a month before her deadline, Stevie's dad sends her to an eating disorder clinic in the New Mexico desert, where Stevie's painful, faltering recovery begins. Stevie narrates her time at the clinic with an intimate, poetic, if occasionally maudlin, voice that draws readers into the depths of her grief. Deftly integrated flashbacks gradually reveal the history of her fractured relationships with food, her absentee mother, and Eden -- the college girl whose intoxicating influence may have led to Josh's death. As her backstory unfolds, Stevie remains haunted and self-destructive: she staunchly resists treatment and schemes alternate ways of taking her own life. Wondering whether or not Stevie will forgive herself before time runs out makes for a tense read. Her turnaround -- fueled by therapy, sobriety, and friendships with other young women at the clinic -- arrives conveniently at the last moment, but Stevie's nascent recovery feels honest, personal, and well-earned regardless. jessica tackett macdonald

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)