My daughter asked me to read Charlotte’s Web to her after she saw the movie at school. She like the gentle story of helping others, dealing death and friendship. Since I had not read since I was a child I found something in it for me to. Fern’s story is an often-ignored side story; of a girl who talks to animals growing up, noticing boys and forgetting the friends she once spent all day watching through a fence.

In this world of fast paced action stories I like to read the slow sad stories like every once in a while. They are very much human stories that reach in the heart and remind us to play for a bit.

This is one of those teen lesson novels of the eighties. Moral lessons for trendy teens. This time the subject is Anorexia. Bonnie’s gets caught in the trap of ultimate weight loss by becoming anorexic. Unfortunately the story is told in a kind of third person, which, though from Bonnie’s point of view, it makes guesses and comments on her thoughts and actions that are condescending. This would send anyone who needed help in the other direction and those reading for enjoyment to drop the book. It took away feeling for the character in my opinion

We don’t get to see Bonnie’s recovery. We get a long decent with a possible first step. However the story is not complete and though you hope for the best you will not feel fulfilled. Like most teen warning novels, this is long forgotten book. It does not have the durability of Speak or Alice. I would not consider it the best novel on anorexia. It is very graphic and scary though. Still the problems make it worse. The arguments for anorexia sound appealing in the novel, in an effort to show the bad of anorexia the author makes it look good. Despite the wrongness of that everything else seems like torture. I’m not sure this novel does what it sets out to do. Perhaps it is the approach. There has to be a better story out there for this topic.

Comments on this Review:
1. Michelle Burger Says:
October 7th, 2005 at 11:15 am

I have several times stumbled upon your website regarding Mirrors Never Lie, and in truth, I really must respectfully disagree with your analysis of the literary work in question. I know from personal experience that this book has influenced many people, myself included, and has brought several away from the path that Bonnie takes. What Isaacsen-Bright does in this work is describe precisely what it is like to have the disease and the symptoms of it.
You were right about one thing – this is sadly a long forgotten book. I would think then that the author would deserve your sympathy in seeing his work gather dust. I also certainly hope the negativity and intellectual pretension you harbored while creating this website has also dissipated into memory.
Respectfully Yours, Michelle V Burger
2. Tirjasdyn Says:
May 8th, 2006 at 9:22 am

I’m sorry you feel that way, I hope you have luck in forgetting about me. Of course I still have the book, simply for lack of something better on the topic.
3. lifeNdecisions Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:53 am

When I was younger I loved this book. I read it over again when I was through with it. It was interesting, and I felt like I could relate to the girl about how she felt about herself. I must have been only 12 or 13 at the time, but I had such a bad self esteem issue. I was chubby. I was not popular. I have a mentally disabled older sister that I always had to stick up for, which labeled me the bitch. I didn’t feel that anything was in control, and i wanted to change that, and take charge of something only I could control. Before I read the book I was on the path to anorexia and didn’t know it. The book opened my eyes, and when I started feeling bad again, I would think about it.

I thought it was a great book. It saved me from a lot of trouble I could have been in had I not been able to recognize what was going on and what the dire consequences would have been…
4. Tirjasdyn Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 9:42 am

lifeNdecisions, I’m glad the book helped you. Did you talk with others about anorexia after reading this book? I’m curious because my main complaint is that it makes the disease seem so appealing in some respects.
5. Tracy Says:
June 16th, 2006 at 9:21 am

I read this book over and over when I was younger too. I was also chubby (still am) and had serious self-esteem problems. It was my sister’s book and she was skinny but had similar body image issues. What happened with the main character disgusted me, but at the same time, it gave me the urge to TRY anorexia. Of course, that failed. I don’t have it in me to just not eat, but I suppose that’s a good thing considering that so many girls, then and now, do. My sister, I don’t know what her thoughts were. Neither of us really ever spoke of the book to each other… It was an odd time in my life, just as puberty is for everyone. I had nearly forgotten about the book until today. Strange how things happen. I have lost now over 16 lbs since March in a very healthy way and that is what reminded me of this book.

Another book in the same vein as this is called “Crosses”. My younger brother read that particular book about girls who self-mutilate and three weeks later my mom caught him cutting himself (this was a few years ago, of course). I’m not saying the books here are at fault because different people can interpret the same thing in very different ways but they can convey these sort of activities in a somewhat glamorous light.

6. Tirjasdyn Says:
July 11th, 2006 at 3:59 pm

I think because we never see the recovery, we never see what she later felt about the disease. We are only left with her glowing impression of the disease and her sudden will to live even though she never had a will to die.

Young adult books of the 1970’s and 80’s contain some of the most touching real stories around. More often than not they tell of real problems any child might encounter and many you hope they never do.

Ms. Hahn’s books always delight me. I read them as a child, and as an adult I keep them on hand for my daughter when she is old enough to read them. Daphne’s Book is no less entertaining. Jessica and Daphne are compelling in their thoughtless adolescence, both learning to be friends and deal with the issues raised in their lives.

Jessica’s family is about to include her mother’s boyfriend, and her friends are going a little boy crazy. Daphne is poor, eccentric girl who misses school a lot and has a beautiful artistic hand. The story is touching, and even though life is not perfect, the author leaves you satisfied.