Girls Under Pressure (Girls Quartet) - Hardcover

Wilson, Jacqueline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385729758 ISBN 13: 9780385729758

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2002

Synopsis

Ellie thinks she looks awful. Horrible. FAT. Her best friends are both drop-dead gorgeous and Ellie’s sick of being the ugly duckling. So she goes on a diet. And she even starts to exercise, much to her friends’ and her gym teacher’s amazement. Ellie’s hungry all the time, she works out every spare second, and she’s turned into a grouchy meanie. But if her friends don’t want to deal with the new and improved Ellie, that’s their problem. It’s better to be thin than happy. Isn’t it?

About this title

Review:

Ellie is frantic. Her two best friends seem to be living life in the fast lane while she putters along the curb. Glamorous blond Magda has got a thousand cute boys buzzing around her, and Goth girl Nadine has just been asked to take part in a national teen modeling contest. All Ellie has are massive panic attacks about her weight. So she decides to go on a diet. But instead of counting calories, Ellie just tries to stop eating altogether. Soon she's starving, miserable, and lying all the time to her friends and family. Luckily, a frightening encounter with a real anorectic, and an encouraging dose of art history from a handsome new teacher ("Beauty is just fashion. Male artists have used beautiful women throughout the centuries but their sizes and proportions keep changing") help Ellie realize that size is just a state of mind.

In this second installment of the Girls trilogy, fabulous British author Jacqueline Wilson keeps her trademark funny bone firmly in place while simultaneously raising some sobering questions about issues like eating disorders and teens' overemphasis on appearance. Despite the laughs, Ellie very nearly lapses into anorexia, Magda gets a scare when her chronic flirting almost leads to date rape, and Nadine realizes that the modeling business could care less about her individuality or intellect. Wrapping serious messages in a sugary comical coating is always the best way to make the medicine go down. Recommended for those teen female readers who want something both funny and filling. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

About the Author:

Jacqueline Wilson, a bestselling author in Britain, has written several award-winning books for young people, including The Suitcase Kid, Double Act, and The Lottie Project.

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0385729758
• ISBN 13: 9780385729758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224