I cannot decide whether this book is a big joke or a real book. The description reads:

This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

First, let’s take a look at the cover. There is a girl, who we can probably assume – with great accuracy – is Maggie. Maggie is holding up a dress that does not fit her. In the mirror Maggie is seeing a skinnier girl who fits the dress.

Next, let’s look at the description. Maggie is overweight, and insecure but a diet transforms her from an overweight, insecure girl into a normal size – skinny and pretty. The only good thing – and I use that liberally – is that the diet is through time, exercise and hard work.

What upsets me most about the book is that it might lead young girls to think that in order to be happy they must be thin – or, as the author so tactfully puts it, normal size. This doesn’t promote health as much as it promotes low self-esteem. Yes, let’s hand this book to young girls who might already be suffering from low self-esteem and tell them that in order to be more confident they need to lose weight.

Appalling.