Middle Grade Monday: A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner
A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. 368 p. Aladdin/ Simon & Schuster, May, 2023. 9781665905152. (Review of finished purchased copy.)
Sorry for this late posting! Middle Grade Monday features A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. This heartbreaking first-person narrative is difficult to classify. It's notebook design implies a journal, but it's filled with disjointed free verse and sketches depicting Will's fragile mental health since fourth grade, when a cruel classmate fat-shamed him. He withdraws, and tries to make himself invisible by dressing in the baggiest of clothing and, eventually suffers from disordered eating. This honest, unflinching portrayal of what it's like to live as a fat kid in a world that values thinness will make readers reflect on how they might treat others. It's a powerful gut-punch. Highly recommended.
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