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Children's Fiction Girls & Women

Pretty Bones

by (author) Aya Tsintziras

Publisher
James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Initial publish date
Sep 2011
Category
Girls & Women, Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries
Recommended Age
14 to 18
Recommended Grade
9 to 12
Recommended Reading age
7 to 10
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781552777145
    Publish Date
    Sep 2011
    List Price
    $12.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781552777121
    Publish Date
    Sep 2011
    List Price
    $9.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781552777138
    Publish Date
    Sep 2011
    List Price
    $16.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Raine has a family, good grades, best friends, and a boyfriend who loves her. But then anorexia takes over, and her life spirals out of control. Her efforts to hide her condition are finished when she collapses at a school dance. Although she's whisked away to treatment, Raine isn't ready to accept who she really is and get the help she desperately needs. For Raine, coming-of-age means coming closer to death.

About the author

At fifteen, AYA TSINTZIRAS' play, Rainfall, won an Honourable Mention in the Tarragon Theatre's Under 20 Playwright Competition. Now completing her degree in Political Science and Media Studies at the University of Toronto, Aya has rewritten the play into this novel. Her interest in anorexia developed during her teenage years after a classmate died due to complications of this eating disorder. Deeply affected by this tragedy, Aya wants young adults to be more aware of the consequences of what she was told then was a "mysterious illness."

Aya Tsintziras' profile page

Awards

  • Commended, Best Books for Kids & Teens -- Canadian Children's Book Centre

Editorial Reviews

Pretty Bones is a frightening look into the mind of a teenage victim of anorexia...I would definitely recommend it. It's some serious thought-provoking stuff.

astormofwords.net blog post

The writing is succinct, powerful, and subtle at the same time. Tsintziras' prose style is engaging and engrossing, pulling the reader into Raine's head and her perceptions of herself... Pretty Bones is important and a must-have for library shelves.
Recommended.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Tsintziras does a great job getting the reader hooked..."

VOYA (U.S.)

Rated G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
The genius in this book lies in its ability to communicate to the reader the depth of Raine's denial without resorting to overt statement...for a school age-reader, the consequent insight should have more impact than a more dramatic presentation.

Resource Links

Librarian Reviews

Pretty Bones (SideStreets)

Raine seems to have it all — good grades, great friends and an adoring boyfriend. But what Raine really wants is to be beautiful, and that means being thin. When she finds herself trapped in a world where mirrors and scales always make you look fat and ugly, she takes things further than she’d planned to. Will Raine take her friend’s advice and get the help she needs?

Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. Fall, 2012.