Wintergirls

Title : Winter Girls
Author : Laurie Halse Anderson
ISBN : 9780670011100
Publisher : Penguin Group
Copyright Date : 2009

Plot Summary - Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls attracted my attention as controversial literature was being discusses in class. It is the story of two girls who struggle with eating disorders, one who is alive and the other dead. While it is possibly unfair to label the story simply about two different girls given the vast majority of the novel is about the one girl and how she deals with her anorexia, the other girl is a sort of spirit that runs throughout the novel. One cannot escape her spirit as it permeates everything and everyone.

At the beginning of the novel we find out that the one girl is dead from some unknown source, but that she has contacted her friend who she hadn't been in touch with for six months the night of her death. In fact, she had called her over 30 times to try to reach out to her and the other girl failed to do anything. Lia then explores the depth of her feelings about her friend and it all spirals down to one moment where she must make a choice about her own future. Is she going to experience the fate of her friend who died all alone, or is she going to overcome her own experiences to be able to lead some semblance of a normal life?
Ultimately she decides that it is better to face her future and live a life where she is connected to people, no matter how dysfunctional they are. She takes meaning from her dad's new family and her step sister. She finds that despite her mother's desire to control her situation that she really does love her. And ultimately she finds that life is worth living.

Critical Evaluation - There is a beauty and a haunting ethereal feel for most of the novel. Written from the first person of the character of Lia the readers explore the depths of Lia's soul. It covers the internal pain that she has experienced through the splitting of her family and how that has wrenched her soul. It also covers the pain of her friend Carrie and how that has impacted her. It deals thoroughly with the parents, despite their well meaning, struggling with a split family and failing to connect with the daughter in some meaningful way. Thankfully Laurie Anderson does not do the readers a disservice by having external circumstances force Lia into changing her ways. Ultimately Lia has to come to her own conclusions about what gives her life meaning. And for Lia it is the only way that true change will happen. Despite this insight into human change, Anderson does have one problem with the novel. She spends so much time digging her lead character into her own personal hell that by the time she comes out of it, its seems overly fast and somewhat contrived.

Reader's Annotation - Lia confronts her fears about her life as her parents want more and more control.  Lia seems to allow herself to get out of control  as she spirals in a downward direction after the death of her friend form complications with anorexia.

--Information about the Author--
Laurie Halse Anderson, according to the author, has never written anything to send a message.  She claims she is only out to tell a good story.  But in the writing of Wintergirls, she has not only told a good story, but connected to girls who are experiencing pain and are seeking release.

Curriculum Ties - Have a discussion of banned books. Why we ban books from Huck Finn to the Present?  - Literature 

Discussion the nature of anorexia and bulimia. - Health

Discuss the uses of Ghosts and specters in other pieces of literature.

Reading Level - Grade 10+

Book Talking Ideas - Discuss how to handle friends who need help - suicide, eating disorders.  Provide numbers and hotlines that people can call at the end of group.

Challenge Issues - This is an intense story of anorexia and bulimia. A parent may consider it possibly not age appropriate.

Ghosts and other Phantasms

Overcoming Challenge Issues - To confront this issues I would bring up studies of kids at an early age suffering from body issues such as obesity and anorexia and the need to talk about this with teens, especially as peer pressure mounts.  I would have both articles on studying kids with health problems and peer pressure issues.

Why included - I included this because I was interested in teen books on controversial subject matter.