2.45k reviews for:

Starfish

Lisa Fipps

4.5 AVERAGE

emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Soooo good!!!!! Loved Ellie's growth throughout the book. Got me angry and empathetic and happy at times.
challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Every person, young and old, needs to read this book. It looks at bullying from all angles - the person being bullied; the bullies; the parents of the bullied; the friends of the bullies, and the bullied.

Ellie is a twelve-year-old being bullied for being fat, not only by kids at school but also her own family. She has love and support from her dad and her two close friends. When she starts going to therapy, she finds safe ways to deal with her attackers and start to love herself.

It's sad and cruel the way people think they can treat others. This book made me cry but also gave me hope. 
challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What a powerful and heartfelt book. I definitely cried some throughout the book. I think anyone who is overweight can identify with Ellie and what she goes through in the book. I love her journey and growth to accept who she is and learn that she deserves to take up space in this world too. She definitely has her haters and supporters. I loved the cast of characters in the book. I like that the relationship repairs feel real and it doesn't end up like a cheesy TV movie. Fipps keeps her focus on Ellie and her relationship with herself and others and I loved that about the book. Poetry just really is able to convey so much emotion without spelling it out and I love that! I highlighted so many phrases and wrote 25 questions to discuss with my 7th grade book club! I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.
emotional hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
emotional hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was really good! The author really captured what fatphobic bullying is like among middle school kids, which makes sense because in the Author’s Note she says that it’s all based on her own lived experience at that age.

I’m also completely horrified that it’s even legal to perform bariatric surgery on a child (this is something that gets mentioned in the book, though thankfully it doesn’t end up happening to the narrator). Parents shouldn’t be making that decision for their child. I wish that all the people who are up in arms about gender-affirming surgery (which is only legal to perform on an adult, though they don’t seem to know that) would be up in arms about this instead.
emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow, I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. Primarily I was concerned with its use of free verse as a narrative structure, since I'm not really a fan of poetry. Even though I was asking myself, "Am I reading this right?", I still enjoyed how Fipps evoked so much meaning in so few words.

Personally, I think a lot more kids should read this. It is dramatic, sure, but also body-positive and hopeful, and it can help so many who are being bullied for other reasons. It's about taking back your voice and taking up space.
SpoilerAlthough I do wish that the brother storyline had been resolved too.