making use of my best resource! *winning smile*

[such_heights]

Hi all,

Am looking for resources for a couple of friends of mine, and was wondering if any of you have some links/suggestions off the top of your head!

1. I am looking for novels that feature positive portrayals of women who aren't thin.

2. I am looking for resources to help someone who's currently in a pretty bad pit of depression but having trouble articulating that and reaching out. That sounds all too familiar to me, but I don't recommend my own strategy of going and going until you snap. Anything about first reaching out for professional support or recognising that's what happening is an illness and not a moral failing would be most welcome.

♥!

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid]

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, perhaps? Carmen is consistently aware of herself as a little larger and of different proportions to her friends. She's probably of average-curvy size, not significantly fat - and she certainly fits into the same magically-stretchy pants as her friends - but there's a little recurring thread in there about living with her larger butt, and so on.

For that matter, there's Lily in the Princess Diaries series, who is neither thin nor pretty (in Mia's eyes, anyway); and Tina, who is not-thin and very pretty. Both supporting roles (Tina isn't in the first book, I think), but might be useful to your friend as small examples.

Something older - Dianna Barry, best friend to Anne of Green Gables, is 'plump'. Anne sees herself as thin/skinny/undesirable, and envies Dianna's 'plump' physique. As Anne gets older that dichotomy fades a bit, and Anne assumes the place of primary example of beauty (tall, willowy, red-headed etc). But it's an interesting feature of the first book, in that Anne's beauty ideals are the inverse of what you usually find in a modern YA novel.

[such_heights]

Yay, thank you so much for this!