How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love

Gr 9 Up—Emery Jackson, daughter of a former model and a basketball star, and sister to an aspiring TV host, has begrudgingly accepted her role as the snarky, pleasantly plump sister with a pretty face. An opportunity arises for the dysfunctional Southern Californian family to be showcased in a reality TV show that will follow the protagonist as she tries to lose 50 pounds in 50 days. Emery undergoes physical, emotional, and psychological challenges as she deals with the backlash and privacy issues that are part and parcel with her instant celebrity status, in addition to her rigorous diet and exercise regime. While important and relevant topics such as self-worth and slut-shaming are broached in the narrator's YouTube monologues, which are interspersed throughout the narrative, these themes barely skim the surface of this problematic novel. An uneven treatment of her bout with an eating disorder and an out-of-left-field reveal at the end, will keep teens from connecting with Emery. Even though the main character is technically obese, the description of her weight and height don't completely jive with how she describes herself in the mirror. Whether this is due to Emery's negative self-image is never made clear by the author. For a more nuanced take on body issues in YA, offer mature readers Erin Jade Lange's Butter (Bloomsbury, 2012) or Kody Keplinger's The Duff (Little, Brown, 2010).—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal