Greer Walsh is a confident, amazing math student. She tries to listen to her, sometimes, out of touch parents and manages around her, often times, gross younger brother. A lot of Greer's life is relatable to any teen girl, however, she also has a size 30H bra.
This book follows Greer as she attempts to maintain status quo, which consists of hiding under her XXL hoodie and never, ever talking about her breasts. Life has a way of drawing Greer out of her comfort zone in the shape of a new boy in school and a newly discovered talent for volleyball. As Greer slowly comes out of her shell, she realizes her situation is maybe not the end of the world and it definitely does not have to dictate her life.
I did love the overall message of accepting one's body and learning not to avoid/hide. Greer does learn to accept herself and even teaches others acceptance. What I did not like so much is the relationship Greer had with her parents. Admittedly, it can be difficult to talk to one's parents especially when they don't seem interested and that appeared to be the case at times but Greer never seemed to make peace with her mother. The mother believes throughout most of this book that Greer is larger than she is due to all the hiding under XXL clothing and Greer never corrects her. I don't want to be spoilery but I would've liked the mother to at least attempt to talk to the daughter about feelings and emotions or even just the practicalities of obtaining a sports bra.
Overall, I did like this book and I did connect with it as I think many readers will but I just wished it had gone a bit further. It is not as difficult as Greer seems to think to find a size 30H bra and I was ultimately waiting for the mother/daughter relationship to guide Greer in that direction but I feel it never happened. I hope readers do feel the normalization of the experience depicted in this book but I also hope they realize there is much more out there as far as resources to help. There's no reason not to talk about what you need with a trusted adult. Okay off the soap box now.
Ultimately, I did enjoy this audiobook, I did laugh out loud at times, and I do think it deserves four stars. :)
This book follows Greer as she attempts to maintain status quo, which consists of hiding under her XXL hoodie and never, ever talking about her breasts. Life has a way of drawing Greer out of her comfort zone in the shape of a new boy in school and a newly discovered talent for volleyball. As Greer slowly comes out of her shell, she realizes her situation is maybe not the end of the world and it definitely does not have to dictate her life.
I did love the overall message of accepting one's body and learning not to avoid/hide. Greer does learn to accept herself and even teaches others acceptance. What I did not like so much is the relationship Greer had with her parents. Admittedly, it can be difficult to talk to one's parents especially when they don't seem interested and that appeared to be the case at times but Greer never seemed to make peace with her mother. The mother believes throughout most of this book that Greer is larger than she is due to all the hiding under XXL clothing and Greer never corrects her. I don't want to be spoilery but I would've liked the mother to at least attempt to talk to the daughter about feelings and emotions or even just the practicalities of obtaining a sports bra.
Overall, I did like this book and I did connect with it as I think many readers will but I just wished it had gone a bit further. It is not as difficult as Greer seems to think to find a size 30H bra and I was ultimately waiting for the mother/daughter relationship to guide Greer in that direction but I feel it never happened. I hope readers do feel the normalization of the experience depicted in this book but I also hope they realize there is much more out there as far as resources to help. There's no reason not to talk about what you need with a trusted adult. Okay off the soap box now.
Ultimately, I did enjoy this audiobook, I did laugh out loud at times, and I do think it deserves four stars. :)