Author(s): Jenna Guillaume
Young Adult Fiction
You know all those movies where teenagers have, like, THE SUMMER OF THEIR LIVES? This summer is probably not going to be that. Source: Everything that's happened since yesterday ...
The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she'd be doing this summer is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she's spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL for Christmas and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie's shaky confidence. And her best friend starts going out with the boy she's always loved.
But Maisie's got something to prove. As she writes down all the ways this summer is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn't let anything, or anyone, hold her back...
Jem's Review:
You know all those movies where teenagers have, like, THE SUMMER OF THEIR LIVES? This summer is probably not going to be that.
Source: Everything that's happened since yesterday...
A diary, an Australian Christmas spent at the beach, and all the messiness of being sixteen, What I Like about Me is a great body positive teen rom-com with a lot of heart.
Maisie Martin is a charming, cheeky and hilarious plus-size teen who navigates her parents (who aren’t talking), her recently dumped best friend Anna getting super friendly with Maisie’s forever crush and family friend Sebastian Lee, and an acceptance into the Miss Teen Summer Queen beauty pageant.
With her dad staying home to work over the holidays, Maisie and her mum, with best friend Anna, are off to Cobblers Beach for Christmas. Maisie is a bit of a mess. Things are weird between her parents, and her beautiful dancer sister Eva, who shakes up what little confidence Maisie has, is flying up with her new girlfriend.
When Sebastian and Anna share a kiss at a outdoor screening of Dirty Dancing, Maisie is left torn between her broken heart and her friend’s happiness. Then there’s Beamer. Sebastian Lee’s pain in-the-butt best friend. The boy who had always gotten on Maisie’s nerves.
Emboldened by her new friend Leila, a fashion designer and all round ray of sunshine, Maisie decides to enter into the Miss Teen Summer Queen and gets in as the first plus size contestant. With internet trolls making horrible comments, and the negativity she has experienced from the world outside, her family, and most importantly herself, Maisie begins the hard journey to loving who she is.
Jenna Guillaume has written a genuinely lovely book that dives into body positivity in such a loving, heartwarming way. With laugh-out-loud moments (like Maisie shooting a tampon out of her nose) What I Like about Me is cringe-filled, funny, and truly uplifting.
