Starfish was a heartbreaking, raw, and honest middle grade novel in verse. Ellie is a young girl dealing with bullying and fat shaming, both at school and at home from her mother. She is trying to love herself and push back against the bullying, while also struggling to get her fatphobic mother to really see her.
Ellie meets a new friend, Catalina, who helps Ellie embrace herself the way she is. This book is all about self acceptance and fat liberation, which was so nice to see in a middle grade novel. The verse structure made this an easy read that I think will be a big hit with many young readers.
I also loved that the main character came from an interfaith family and identified as both Christian and Jewish. I'm always happy to see Jewish representation in middle grade fiction.
Ultimately, this book was at times difficult to read due to the extreme bullying and fat shaming. But it was also a beautiful story about learning to take up space, and it definitely had me in tears by the end.
Ellie meets a new friend, Catalina, who helps Ellie embrace herself the way she is. This book is all about self acceptance and fat liberation, which was so nice to see in a middle grade novel. The verse structure made this an easy read that I think will be a big hit with many young readers.
I also loved that the main character came from an interfaith family and identified as both Christian and Jewish. I'm always happy to see Jewish representation in middle grade fiction.
Ultimately, this book was at times difficult to read due to the extreme bullying and fat shaming. But it was also a beautiful story about learning to take up space, and it definitely had me in tears by the end.