First published 2023
Most children believe being fat is wrong before they start school. Over a quarter diet by middle school. Virginia Sole-Smith examines how kids absorb messages that thin equals valuable and fat equals failure. She traces this harm to schools, sports programs, medical offices, diet industries, and families themselves. America has waged war on obesity for forty years without making people thinner or happier. Sole-Smith argues the problem lies not with children or their weight, but with systems that shame bodies. Drawing from extensive reporting and interviews with parents and children, she exposes daily attacks of fatphobia kids endure. The book provides strategies for families to shift conversations about weight, health, and worth. Sole-Smith helps parents recognize their own biases about bodies and spot diet culture messaging. She offers tools to help children navigate a world hostile to larger bodies and builds a case for weight-inclusive approaches to health and wellbeing.
Genres: non-fiction, health, parenting, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: activism, family-drama, social-commentary
384 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.
Content warnings: eating-disorder, mental-illness