The Best Little Girl In The World

 The Best Little Girl In the World by Steven Levenkron tells the story of one girls life as she fights the disorder anorexia nervosa. The main character is Francesca Dietrich, a teen girl of fifteen years. She is involved in ballet, a sport that demands one to be thin. She is also an A student, has two siblings, her Father makes the above average income, lives in a nice home and has a stay at home mom. Simply you could say that Francesca was the perfect child and had the perfect life, a mistake that is usually made by outsiders looking at a victim of anorexia nervosa.
     The story starts off with Francesca in her ballet class. She is struggling to perform certain moves and compares herself to the other girls in the class. She says to herself, "I must be perfect. My leg needs to be straighter." She looks at the girl in front of her. "She is perfect. Her legs are straight." After the class, Madame, the instructor, compliments Francesca and tells her she must be slim and firm. This is where the problems start. From this point on Francesca is no more. She renames herself Kessa, the skinny superior form of Francesca who doesn't need food and slowly lessens the amount of food she eats at every meal. Soon she is down to only eating half a slice of toast for breakfast, a fry for lunch and nothing for dinner. As she stops eating she excersises more, obsessively actually. These are the first steps then she moves on to binging any food she eats. Taking a trip to the bathroom after every meal. From this point on she only gets worst and had to be hospitalized.
    This book gives a good portrayal of both the mental and physical sides of anorexia nervosa. It shows how Francesca's body slowly deteriorates from obsessive weight loss and how her personality and mental state changes through the process. Like how soon the once happy A student becomes depressed and begins to fail classes. How Francesca becomes secluded from everyone, refuses to let her lips touch the utensils when she eats food, refuses to sit on the toilet seat when she uses the bathroom because to her it is "impure." Soon the Dietrich family's perfect child is replaced by someone who is angry and bitter. Francesca sees herself as being a fat monster at the weight of ninety eight pounds and a height of five foot four. Also, the book ends on  a happy note which is a positive (usually victims of this disorder die or never completely heal) if any young girls/boys read who are struggling with their weight so that they are given some hope.
     On a negative note the book jumps into the the disorder too quickly. In the first chapter Francesca develops the disorder and from that point on she goes into a downward spiral. Now this depends on the reader. If you like books that jump right into the action then you probably won't have a complaint but if you are the type of person who like to see a character develop a bit more in the beginning of the novel then you may have a few words. Personally, I think the book shouldn't have started with Francesca in ballet class. I think it should have started with her in a more "safe" place for people with this disorder and shown little hints of her gaining the disorder slowly but surely. Still, though the book is very realistic. It explores different reasons for anorexia nervosa and even dips into the disorders history a little bit. The character shows all the usual symptoms or signs of anorexia nervosa and the pressures of society. On a  scale of five stars I give this book a three.


My Apple Tree (Pt 5) will be out soon.