Thoughts before reading:
I've never read this before, but I know this is The Anorexia Book. It's a rather notorious one in the fandom for that reason. These sort of plots can be really good, like Jessi's Secret Language, or really terrible and heavy handed...so no idea what to expect from this read.
Not a big fan of this cover though. I don't think it could be more dramatic...
The basics:
Jessi's ballet teacher announces that the Stamford Ballet School will be having a free six week class for under privileged children, and they need volunteers to help out. Jessi immediately offers, as does another girl in her class, Mary Bramstedt. This surprises Jessi, because Mary is very intense about her own dancing, and volunteering means missing some classes. She doesn't think Mary's all that good of a dancer either, because she worries too much about it to let go. After class, Jessi also overhears Mary complaining that she needs to lose weight, even though she's actually very thin.
The volunteer class gets off to a rough start. There's a few girls who won't listen to Jessi, and aren't taking things seriously. She does enjoy it overall though, and when the parents begin to arrive to pick up their kids, it really hits her how they're helping. Jessi can detect a weary sadness on the adults' faces, like they are clearly overworked and too stressed.
Spending more time with Mary now, she also starts to notice that the girl is always studying herself in the mirror during class, and pinching at her waist. One afternoon, the other volunteers invite Jessi and Mary to Burger King so they can get to know each other. Jessi's flattered and quickly says yes, but Mary's very reluctant about eating fast food. They both end up going, and Jessi has a great time talking with the older kids and being treated as one of them. She does notice that Mary hardly eats, but skillfully moves her food around and pretends to be.
The other volunteers are concerned that Mme Dupre, the teacher, doesn't care about the class because of her very laid back teaching style. Some of them think this means she's written the kids off as having no potential because they are poor inner-city kids. Jessi doesn't want to believe that this could be true, but she too can't help but notice that the classes are very undemanding. After a few classes, however, she finally kicks the lessons into high gear. Around this same time, Mary gets sick, feels weak, and ends up leaving a class early.
At the next BSC meeting, Jessi's really quiet because she can't stop thinking about Mary. When she explains to the other girls, Stacey says it sounds like Mary might be anorexic. Jessi's not sure what the means, until she explains it's someone who keeps dieting, even when they are dangerously thin. No one knows much more about it, so they sneak into Janine's room and look through her psychology books to learn the symptoms. (Pre-internet days! Ah, the nostalgia...) Jessi has to admit that most of them fit Mary perfectly. Still not sure what to do, Jessi writes Quint asking for advice.
Mary ends up fainting during one of their regular dance classes, prompting Jessi to decide to talk to her directly. When she tries to bring up the dieting, Mary gets really defensive and shocks Jessi by yelling in her face. Jessi manages to stay calm herself, but immediately backs off. Aunt Cecelia ends up giving her some good advice on how to proceed: trust her gut, and tell an adult who's close to Mary. She will be angry, but someday she'll realize that Jessi was being a true friend.
Quint writes back, and mentions the idea that Jessi could suggest the school offer a scholarship for the most promising students in the free class. Kristy offers to talk to her mom and Watson about getting a corporation to sponsor the fund. Watson ends up offering two full scholarships himself.
It's clear to Jessi that Mary is growing thinner and thinner, and stumbling more during classes. She gives her the ultimatum to talk to Mme Noelle, their regular teacher, or else Jessi will. Mary starts to after class, but ends up running out. Jessi steps in and explains everything. Mme Noelle and Jessi then talk to Mary together, and the teacher assures her she can get part this, see that other things in her life matter besides dancing, and someday dance again.
Mary starts seeing a doctor and going to therapy.
Meanwhile, Shannon has been having more free time lately and has been asking Kristy to hang out more, but Kristy's been dodging her because she's too busy. When she tells the BSC about it, Stacey and Claudia urge her to have Shannon call them instead. They start hanging out, but then Kristy gets jealous. She ends up blowing up at Claudia and Shannon when she sees them building a snow village with some kids in her neighborhood, yelling about Shannon stealing her friends. She tells Claudia it doesn't feel like any of them are her friends anymore, then she storms off.
Kristy later apologizes to Shannon and admits she was jealous. The BSC girls reassure Kristy that no one could replace her, and Mary Anne suggests that Shannon start coming to some meetings so Kristy can see her more.
Timeline:
It's still winter, good continuity.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn, and also evaluated by Dr. Adele M. Brodkin.
*It was really nice to see a BSC member making new friends! Go Jessi!
*Stacey mentions how the girls used to think she was anorexic, so good continuity there. However, most of them act like they've either never heard of it or know nothing about it, which doesn't make sense with this. They knew enough about it at one point to suspect that Stacey had the symptoms.
*Claudia is eating twinkies while reading about anorexia. It's a serious moment, but this is still kind of funny.
*It's mentioned that Kristy goes to a basketball game at Bart's school. We haven't heard much about them lately.
*Charlie is also very punctual, like Kristy.
*Brief Stacey and Sam scene! She comes over to baby-sit just as he's rushing out with Charlie and Kristy. She's glad to see him, even if it's only for a few minutes. He wishes her luck sitting, then they agree to talk later. (It was more exciting at the time than it sounds, haha.)
*Kristy was really bitchy in here, being rude to Stacey and Shannon because they were hanging out, even though it was her suggestion! I get that she's jealous, but it's such an overreaction to the situation. She was avoiding Shannon because she didn't have time for her, and that hasn't changed. It's not like she's sitting at home alone, missing out. She was even invited to things, but too busy to go. She just doesn't want anyone to have fun without her, even if she's choosing to hang out with someone else. I've definitely known people like this.
*This book did a good job discussing the treatment of minorities, which impressed me.
Books mentioned:
*X-Men comics
My rating:
4 stars, this subject matter was handled well, and I think it's an important one for young girls to read about. Jessi was very mature in here, and set a great example for kids who may face similar issues.
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