Top Heavy

Gr 9 Up–A novel in verse about Esme, a high school sophomore who loses herself in dance—but being “top heavy” brings her back to reality. Esme and her best friend Mia are ecstatic when they are promoted to the Elite dance team, but the older dancers range from uninterested to hostile. Esme’s family is struggling with her mom’s restaurant income after her father’s workplace accident; not only are her dad’s surgery and dance team unaffordable but so is the breast reduction Esme dreams of to avoid unwanted attention. That attention culminates in inappropriate touching by a creepy fellow whom she appropriately labels “the Wolf.” His assault leads Esme to a reckoning about her body and what parts of her life she can control. This novel works best when describing the interactions between Esme’s physicality and her emotions. The verse format and layout effectively convey Esme’s feelings and what it is like to dance—soaring and airy when happy, squished and truncated when sad. Esme’s day-to-day realities are explored with warmth, particularly the wealth disparities and friendship challenges between her and Mia. Readers will be drawn to Esme’s growing empowerment as well as her blossoming relationship with feisty Grammy Jean; many will, sadly, also recognize Esme’s fear and self-loathing in response to the Wolf. The first-person narrative combined with verse format means readers get insightful flashes of secondary characters’ personalities, but they are not as fully realized. Mia is biracial, the race of other characters is not mentioned.