Looks

by Madeleine George

Book Overview

An unforgettable debut novel about the way we look at others, and the way we see ourselves. Meghan Ball is both the most visible and the most invisible person in school. Her massive size is impossible... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142414190
• ISBN13: 9780142414194
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Speak
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Madeleine George is agifted "new" author

This book hooks you from the get-go. Ms. George has a gift for creating characters that command empathy and at the same time, entertain the reader. I found myself laughing at certain parts and then getting emotional in others. The story is about unlikely friendship, dealing with loss, surviving miserable circumstances. The author's voice is both honest and quirky. There is not a false note in this book. I read this book in less than 2 days- It's addictive! It's the kind of book you'd want to read over and over again.

Young Adult novel with substance

I absolutely loved this book, it looks a bit superficial at first glance like many other books geared towards teen girls but it is really a young adult novel with substance. George accurately depicts the feelings associated with food to many young girls who have eating disorders. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and the many conflicts the two main characters encounter (it isn't just about eating disorders and body image). I would recommend it to everyone, not just teenage girls and feel that everyone can enjoy it especially because of George's writing style.

Lyrical Brilliance

This book left me open, exposed, raw. As the jacket notes it's "as painfully honest as your own diary." It takes you back to your most humiliating moment in high school or junior high or even elementary school. We all have them. The event that made you feel so completely alone and pathetic that you wished to be invisible. But this book does more than make you remember your most vulnerable moment. It makes you recall when you made someone else feel that way, and the guilt and shame come rushing back like a tidal wave. Despite her thundering frame, Meghan Ball is hardly ever seen. She walks ghost-like down the halls of Valley Regional High. People say and do things in front of her as if she doesn't exist, and she almost doesn't until she spies Aimee Zorn. Anorexic Aimee is Meghan's kindred spirit. Like great actors, both use their bodies to say what they cannot with their voices. When pretty, well-liked Cara Roy steals Aimee's poem, Meghan and Aimee work together to get the poem back, and in the process both gain some visibility. For the rest of this review and others, visit my site.

Look Again

Walk down the hallway of Valley Regional High on a weekday and you will undoubtedly be surrounded by both teenagers and noise. Students will pass you on the left and on the right. Pieces of conversation will drift by you, exclamations of joy and disappointment punctuating conversations about tests, teachers, parents, and relationships. Now look closely at two girls who remain quiet: overweight Meghan and thin Aimee. Possibly, they are standing still. Almost impossibly, they might be standing together. Meghan is a sophomore who, despite her size, feels as though she is invisible - and likes it that way. Unless they are making fun of her, none of her peers really talks to her, but she hears everything - all of the gossip about other students and faculty that is whispered and shouted by those who don't notice her presence. Amy is a freshman who wants to be heard but does not want to speak up. She joins the Photon editorial collective in hopes of having her poetry published in the issues, but she's somewhat scared about sharing her poems with others. Her reading and writing were habits encouraged by her mother's latest boyfriend, a poetry professor who just moved out of the house. She feels his absence acutely, even more than the absence of food. She eats very little, if at all, and refuses to discuss her eating habits with her mother. She pretends that she has allergies that limit her food choices. The two girls come together after Aimee is betrayed by Cara, the popular, has-it-all girl who once hurt Meghan. (Please note that in both cases, the pain is emotional, not physical.) Also involved is J-Bar, the jock of the walk, who taunts Meghan every chance he gets. When given the opportunity to put both Cara and J-Bar in their places, what will the girls do? In confronting their bullies, they will have to confront things in their lives that they would rather stay silent, secret. Their voices are unique and ultimately bold, empowering themselves and each other - and readers. The two protagonists and antagonists aren't the only important people here. There's also Ms. Champoux (pronounced "shampoo") who is "fierce in person" but horrible at reading the morning announcements. Though not a direct confidante of either Meghan or Aimee, she will come into play time and time again in unexpected ways. There are four mentor figures in the book: Aimee's father-figure Bill, no longer a member of her household; Meghan's mother, who is obviously kind and loving, but remains peripheral; Aimee's mother, who is worried about her daughter but tiptoes around her; and Mr. Handsley, Meghan's English teacher, who is not afraid to speak his mind. Full of information, insight, and emotion, Mr. Handsley is a truly remarkable character. There ought to be more teachers like him, in books and in real life, who challenge their students and want them to succeed. He sees Meghan, even though she thinks she's kept herself well-hidden in this and every other class. He wants his pu