Thinandbeautiful.com

By Liane Shaw

Book Overview

Seventeen-year-old Maddy has always felt a hole in her life, but she has finally found a way to fill it with her quest to mold her body into her ideal, thinnest shape. When she comes across the world of "pro-ana" websites, where young people encourage each other in their mission to lose ever more weight, she realizes she is no longer alone. Finally, she has found a place where she is understood. Maddy quickly becomes addicted to the support and camaraderie she finds on thinandbeautiful.com. Now in a rehab facility where they are trying to "fix" a problem she doesn't think she has, Maddy's diary entries trace how she arrived at this point. Angry that she is barred from accessing her online friends, only the tragic consequences that come to one of her comrades in arms is enough to shock her into admitting that she does need help. Liane Shaw has worked in education for twenty-five years, with much of that time spent as a teacher of students who face academic, behavioral, physical or emotional challenges. Her own battle with anorexia inspired her to write this story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1897187629
• ISBN13: 9781897187623
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Second Story Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 13 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Review from Blkosiner's Book Blog

This is a book that really gets you inside the head of someone with an eating disorder. The thoughts seem authentic and Shaw uses her own experience with EDs as a basis. Maddie isn't always likable, but she is relatable. It is not an easy read, we travel with her as she pushes her friends and family away, see through the lens of distorted body image, and begin on the difficult road of recovery. I understand why all of the flashbacks where there, but it still annoyed me a bit ...more This is a book that really gets you inside the head of someone with an eating disorder. The thoughts seem authentic and Shaw uses her own experience with EDs as a basis. Maddie isn't always likable, but she is relatable. It is not an easy read, we travel with her as she pushes her friends and family away, see through the lens of distorted body image, and begin on the difficult road of recovery. I understand why all of the flashbacks where there, but it still annoyed me a bit. (It established the long standing of the friendship with Annie and Maddie) This is a really tough issue to write about without glorifying the disease but Shaw did a great job, and I would recommend to anyone who wants to see what the struggle is like, and to see hope at the end of the tunnel.

book aimed at young adults with a positive message

'There's no such thing as too thin' is the dogma that many young girls unfortunately believe. "Thinandbeautiful.com" is a story that many teenage girls face. Maddie believes that in order to be truly beautiful, she must lose more weight. When her family tries to intervene, she's baffled as she doesn't understand it as a problem. A book aimed at young adults with a positive message, "Thinandbeautiful.com" will hopefully get through the heads of troubled young women.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Maddie considers herself pretty normal. At the age of eleven, she began thinking, and yes, worrying, about her appearance. But aren't most girls concerned about things like hair, make-up, and weight? It may have been that visit to the doctor for a physical that got the problem started. It was a routine sports physical. After the exam and Maddie was back in her clothes, the doctor came into the room to chat. Part of the conversation was a warning from him that girls her age need to start watching what they eat so they don't put on "unwanted" pounds. Those words stayed with Maddie, and as her desire to create the perfect figure began to occupy more of her thoughts, those words may have urged her to go way beyond what was healthy and wise. Most of [...] involves Maddie writing about herself and confronting the fact that she is suffering from an eating disorder. She has many people who offer her support, but recognizing whose support she should seek is difficult. Her family and school friends are ready to do whatever is necessary, but she is drawn to an online chat group known as Girls Without Shadows. Their belief is that they have the right to do what they want to their bodies in their desire to be thin and beautiful. The idea of eating disorders does not exist for them. Author Liane Shaw presents the all too common problems of anorexia and bulimia in stark detail as she helps Maddie tell her story. The excuses and denial typical of those with eating disorders is made plain for all to see. Anyone suffering with one or both of these disorders, or anyone who knows someone who is, will benefit from reading Maddie's story. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"