Lia and Cassie were best friends. Somewhere between elementary school and high school, each girl developed her own eating disorder. Now, they are both eighteen, and Cassie is dead. Six months before she died, Cassie called Lia who had just gotten out of the hospital for the second time. Cassie called to say their friendship was over, because Lia was the cause of all Cassie’s problems. Now, Cassie is dead. She died alone in some obscure motel room. And she called Lia 33 times before she died. After Cassie’s death, Lia’s world continues its downward spiral. Every item of food has a calorie count. Her brain and blood want food, but her hands and mouth do not. She leaves behind evidence of meals she never eats, and eats just enough to keep her parents from realizing how bad things really are. She thinks of the times when she was “a real girl” and the times when she fell short of everyone’s expectations. Starvation and dehydration lead to depression and hallucinations. Cassie haunts her and tries to pull her over to the other side. Lia must choose the land of the living or the land of the dead.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com ( )

A tough book to read or listen to, but an important story. It's hard to understand why someone would stop eating and literally try to get down to zero pounds. The author does an excellent job of making this tough issue a little easier to understand. ( )

Wintergirls was an amazing book. Such great insight into the mind of someone struggling with anorexia and how they view the world and food. Eating disorders can be a real addiction and we see that when Lia says her goal is to get down to 95 but once she's there she has to go down to 85 then she won't be happy till she's 75 all the down till she gets to 0. I liked that we get to see things through Lia's eyes, though at times I wanted to tie her up and force feed her the meals. In the beginning of the book she's talking about not eating and she says "empty is strong", I really wanted to yell at her and say "no it's not, empty is weak. Have you ever seen a car run on empty? Completely empty? No! Cause it needs gas to run just like our bodies need food to run." Anyway, the book was amazing, made me a little nervous at the end, but still fantastic. ( )

I had a deep connection to this book. My daughter was anorexic and we fought it for years. Even today as a married woman I see her struggle to eat when she gets stressed. The day before my father went in for open heart surgery he sat her down and made her promise him that when she would get real stressed that she would think about him and not stop eating. She promised him. My father stroked out during surgery and lived for three weeks before passing away. To this day when she is extremely stressed I here her say under her breath, "I'm eating grandpa." She was a dancer and in school, a school for the visual and performing arts, she informed her dance teachers of her problems with eating and also let them know of several of her friends that she was concerned about. This teacher and accomplished dancer and actress would have these girls eat lunch with her in the studio three times a week to discuss any issues they might have. She never once pushed them to eat so they responded well to her.

Anorexia is something that affects all ages. My daughter was in kindergarten when her eating problems started. It was partly a result of her father pushing her away after our divorce and as I found out later some abuse going on a a relative of her father's. She encourages and speaks to teens all of the time. Anorexia is not just a problem for girls. One of her best friends in school was a young male dancer who suffered an eating disorder.

The other issue addressed in this book is that of cutting. Laurie did not go into great detail but did let the reader know the hows and whys the main character cut herself. I suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a relative when I was in middle school and I would take pins and scratch writing into my arms until I bled or just poke holes and watch the blood bubble to the surface picturing it bubbling out all of the bad inside of me.

I deal with students every day with these problems. I look for the signs but they are not always easy to see. I would recommend this book to everyone, parents, teachers and teens. It is strong in message and plot. It is not for the faint of heart. Laurie Halse Anderson once again took the road less traveled and wrote about a topic that seems to be taboo in books but needs to be addressed. I applaud her and will place many copies of this book on my shelf. ( )

This is a sad book on one hand but also so very real. Anorexia and Bulemia are very real and this book is one of those that basically smacks you right in the face with it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book although it is so far outside my realm of what I normally read.

Lia is a teenager who is fighting a battle within herself. Eating disorders are not all fun and games and what starts out as something seemingly innocent, can suddenly turn into a life and death battle. ( )