Back in the 1980s when i was doing childrens bookselling, a lot of teenfics were very, um, issue led. Each publisher had a list of novels that were market researched right-on carefully focussed hack work from the very latest word processor. There'd be an anorexia story, a kindly objectifying story about a wheelchair user, a terminal illness romance, and one about fighting the system of the american high school. Maybe a lesbian story.

They were generally uninspired. Even the dutifully included humourous element would be flabby. They were as sanctimoniously moral as Newberry's goody two shoes.

Which is why I'm nervous of reviewing this. Reduced to bullet points, it sounds like bibliotherapy hell.

Heroine's mum stresses about diets and being fat. 16 year old heroine is mildly regretful she has plump metabolism but not remotely stressed about it. I loved the heroine; she was a good person without inducing eye rolling, mature without beiing unconvincing. She wants to learn hebrew from the granny substitute she visits regularly. She loses patience with aerobics-mad friend but bonds with the friend's hippy mum. She gets into belly dancing where being curvy is a plus, fights to maintain boundaries with her mum, and comes out of it all okay.

The background is terribly 80s. There's a bit in a department store where they debate makeup and the colours they mention are pumpkin mustard and camel. ( )

Love this book. A girl is continually nagged by her mother and best friend to exercise and lose weight. At the Y she wanders into a belly-dancing class and finds it fits her body type and her personality. A story of self-image, resisting pressure to be something you are not, and finding your true self. A romance doesn't hurt either! ( )