Artichoke's Heart

First of all, today was another snow day-my third this week. UGH! My girls did have school and my youngest daughter who has a double ear infection and started antibiotics yesterday went to daycare so I had a few hours to myself. Did I get to read? No. I went to Target and Sam's so I wouldn't have errands to run this weekend. I did ride my Airdyne bike for a short while and read a little more in the Curtis Sittenfeld book, American Wife, that I am loving.

I also finished Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee this morning. What a great book! While I haven't read nearly as much as I want to, I have been happy with the books I have read. This was a great YA book and I felt like Rosemary and I could be friends. Rosemary is overweight-something she doesn't like, but doesn't seem able to stop. Her mom and aunt continue to try and find ways for her to lose weight, but none of them seem to work. Finally, Rosemary' s mom signs her up to be a part of a study on people who receive short term counseling and their ability to lose weight. While she is skeptical, Rosemary agrees to this plan, and learns a lot about herself along the way. The counseling sessions give Rosemary a chance to talk with someone about her feelings and discover things about herself she never realized. When star athlete, Kyle Cox, asks Rosie out she can't believe her good luck. He doesn't seem to care about how heavy she is at all. Rosie eventually decides to work on being more healthy, but it is not her mother or aunt who can do the work for her when it comes to weight loss, and Rosie also learns to like the good things inside of her and not see only her weight when she looks at herself.

This book has such a good message for girls about body image and finding a way to lead a healthy lifestyle without obsessing about weight. It also shows that Rosie was able to be attractive to someone without being perfect. I am rooting for Rosie, and Rosie and Kyle, and would like to check in on her in a year or two and see how her life is turning out.