Kaleidoscope Girl highlights struggles of eating disorders

Our culture has become obsessed with weight and defines thin as beautiful and heavy as ugly. To counter these lies, some authors tackle the tough topic of eating disorders and encourage readers to redefine true beauty.

The Kaleidoscope Girl, by Shelbie Mae, is the story of a teen struggling with an eating disorder. We meet Ariel when her counselor asks her to keep a journal to help her kill the voice in her head that insists she’s unlovable and not beautiful unless she is thinner. The problem is that the voice is never satisfied.

Through the journal, the reader experiences Ariel’s struggles and how her desire to be in control affects herself, friends, and family. She wrestles with seeking treatment, but the treatment is postponed because of Hurricane Irma, which almost costs Ariel her life. Sometimes Ariel fights her disorder, anorexia, which she calls Anna, an alter ego of sorts, and sometimes she embraces anorexia because it is familiar.

This book also touches on the futility of trying to reason with someone with an eating disorder and how fearful making decisions can be with an unwilling party. Sometimes Ariel is sorry for what she puts her mother through, but at other times she is defiant because she wants what she wants.

The book comes with a warning. It could trigger a relapse for a reader fighting her own eating disorder. However, the overall message is to opt for life and good health—one day at a time.

Most people have a habit they are working to overcome, although many habits pose little threat to life. An eating disorder is worse than a habit, of course; it’s an illness. Friends fight with us to win. As Ariel learns, we never fight our battles alone. We have parents and friends who love us and most of all, we have Jesus, who loves us and walks with us. It’s His voice we need to listen to in all our struggles to overcome in life. We are strong and have our purpose through Jesus.

This book is for older teens. It contains one brief sexual scene, but it isn’t explicit.
The Kaleidoscope Girl is a YA novel that while telling of one problem, offers you hope for all your difficulties, and directs us on how a friendship can make all the difference for finding the will to live again.

May we be that kind of a friend to others.