Thank you so much to Penguin Kids for the free copy of Starfish!

I had been wanting to read this book for awhile and finally made the time to read & listen to the story. And wow! This is definitely a book that I wish existed when I was in my tween years maybe even elder elementary. It just broke my heart.

The narrator Jenna Lamia bought such an innocence to the narration and it felt like a young girl's voice. Bravo!

Even if my experience as a fat kid wasn't the same as Ellie. There was internal dialogue and experiences that I heavily related to. And what is even sadder(?) is that even as a mid 30 adult these thoughts still go through my brain. In the story Ellie's mom is pressuring her to have surgery as an eleven year old which I have gone through similar conversations with my mom about it as an adult. Which it is so wild that these experiences run parallel as an adult.

What made this book also stand out is that this was written in verse. It flowed so beautiful and easy to get the full picture of the story in verse. There were so many passages that I felt to my core but here is a brief passage that really stood out. For context Ellie is doing research at her library on the way that society changed over the years.

"With the help of our librarian, Mrs. Pochon, 
I find reliable sources on the internet and 
books of photos of painting and sculptures 
from a hundred to a thousand years ago. 
They're from cultures around the world 
and show girls with 
rolls and curves. 

Girls like me. 

I learn big girls, 
even obese ones, 
were once seen as 
normal, 
preferred, 
beautiful. 

I can't imagine a world so...
safe."