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dandeliontree 's review for:
The Last Wild
by Piers Torday
I was really excited to read this book with my 9 and 7 year old kids, it seemed like just the kind of book we love to delve into, nature themed dystopian, a great sparker of interesting conversations. But, honestly the fat shaming is relentless. I realise that being on the larger side might be quite extraordinary in this version of the world but I am only on page 11 and have read the word "fat" or a derivative of the word at least 9 times. And THEN the name calling starts. I mean, are we still doing this? 'Bad' people are characterised by fatness and ugliness, sometimes hairiness? Can we stop using 'fat' as an insult? Especially in children's books. When we keep telling children that superficial beauty and thinness are the most important things we can't be surprised when that's internalised. There are 6 year olds with eating disorders, bullying is becoming an epidemic. Just stop. While I'm interested learning about this world and the story is intriguing I don't know if I can get over this aspect, I'm not sure if it's worth the constant conversations I'm having to have with the kids to overcome the problem Torday obviously has with fatness.