Books of Summer

Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee

A thought-provoking book for any age, not just young-adult readers is Suzanne Supplee's "Artichoke's Heart."

Rosemary Goode is an unassuming girl whose mother owns the local beauty parlor and wants to keep a low profile from the schoolás mean girls, The Bluebirds, who have tortured Rosemary for years about her weight, calling her Artichoke after she wore green.

The Bluebirds aren't the only ones remarking on her weight. Her aunt and mother buy her an expensive treadmill and tickets to a diet show. Rosemary doesn't like being overweight but doesn't like to be reminded of it either. She'd rather daydream about cute football player Kyle. But he'd never pay attention to her except to tease her, would he?

When one of her mother's customers has a massive heart attack due to her weight, Rosemary begins to take a second look at losing the weight. And when she is signed up for a study about short-term counseling's effect on weight loss, Rosemary begins to take a second look at herself and the people around her. Soon she's making friends that include her crush Kyle who may become more than just a friend, and a pretty running enthusist Kay-Kay, whose daily runs and food-monitoring are helping Rosemary to lose the weight.

A thoroughly enjoyable book that I devoured in one setting, this book might be about an overweight person and weight loss, but it's also about someone finding her strength and her identity. It's about seeing the person inside yourself and others and not just the surface.

"Artichoke's Heart" is published by Dutton Books. It is $16.99 and 276 pages long.