Reading Starfish by Lisa Fipps has hit me harder than any other book I've read up to this point in the semester. I was able to relate to the main character perfectly, and the story was incredibly reflective of my own experience as a plus-size child and teenager.
The story revolves around Eliana, a 12-year-old girl with severe self-esteem issues directly linked to her weight. Her family is unsupportive and at times, incredibly hurtful, about her weight, and her mother goes so far as to impose strict diets to try and remedy the situation. Ellie goes to therapy to try and deal with the intense bullying she receives from her family and classmates, and by the end, therapy seems to have helped her improve her self-image and confront her parents about their treatment of her. It's an incredibly emotional story that hit me very deeply!
I really resonated with Ellie's character, and I found myself thinking back to my experience as a child and teenager. I was always bigger than the other kids, and I had a rapid weight gain when I went through puberty. I remember crying to my parents about how when I hung out with my friends at the mall, I couldn't shop at the same clothing stores because I just couldn't squeeze into the available sizes without feeling like a whale. I thought it was ironic that whale stood out to Ellie as an insult because I always compared myself to one. I dealt with incredibly low self-esteem directly linked to my weight, and I saw multiple therapists to try and seek help. Like Eliana, I also didn't appreciate the value in therapy at first. I didn't really provide much information to my first few therapists, but I was finally able to open up when I was a mid-teenager. Speaking openly about my feelings really did help, and I'm grateful my parents were able to push me to get better. I was ultimately diagnosed with PCOS, which caused my rapid weight gain, and I've lost a lot since getting on medication to control the medical side effects of it. Now that I'm 6 months pregnant, I feel like a whale again, though I know it's for a wonderful reason.
Overall, I would highly, highly recommend this book for a young library. There weren't many books that focused on weight-related issues when I was a kid, and I think reading about characters like Ellie would have helped me to realize that my big body still held immense value in the world. I also think there's a lot of benefits in having students who may not have weight issues read titles similar to these. My friends didn't understand my self-esteem struggles because they didn't have to deal with the same issues. I think if they had been able to see my perspective through a character, it would have made them a little more empathetic. I would absolutely keep this as a title in a library!
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