Image from Aloha Publishers
If it’s really true that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, then the publicist for the forthcoming children’s book, “Maggie Goes on a Diet” (Aloha Publishers) must think she’s died and gone to heaven. The book isn’t due out until October and but it’s a trending topic online this week.
The book tells the tale of a 14-year-old girl who is unhappy about her weight. After going on a diet and slimming down, she finds new success and popularity at school. This article in the Washington Post details the widespread criticism the book has received.
What’s your take? Are we sending dangerous messages to our teens or does the book serve a useful role in a time when 1 in 3 kids is overweight?
See also: Getting Kids to Eat Healthier
The content of the book may be good (I have not read it), but I really don’t like the title or the illustration on the cover. Promoting healthy lifestyles is of utmost importance for the young population but not in the form of dieting.
I’d prefer something like “Maggie’s Family Gets Healthy,” a story in which we see Maggie and her family pigging out on junk food and sitting in front of the TV and then deciding that they want to eat better and get exercise. Show them buying veggies, learning new recipes, getting closer as a family by cooking & eating together. And then the side effect is that they all get to go buy new clothes before school starts because their old clothes don’t fit anymore. That’s what this book could/should be.
I definitely agree with you.
This airtlce keeps it real, no doubt.
We cannot bury our heads in the sand anymore about kids getting overweight and obese. The soft and self-esteem-boosting approach isn’t working! We need something like this to wake up parents and kids. A strong message is not a bad thing. Kids should feel that life is better when they are fit. Because it usually is. The book is realistic. This is what life is really like.
People are too sensitive. The title is there to sell books. Period. With our obesity epidemic, no message about losing weight is too harsh. I don’t care if someone said children should starve themselves to lose weight. Probably healthier than what most are doing right now.
OK, maybe I exaggerated a bit too much with my last statement, but you get the point.
In any case she totally nicked the idea for that book from a plot within Lionel schriver amazing book ‘the post birthday world’ !!!
The title of that book is simply wrong.
Young kids already have their own body hangups and dont need books like this saying they are fat and need to start a diet so they can feel good about themselves.
Well good on her for “nicking” the idea and it’s about time too. We all know the statistics on childhood obesity (let alone adult obesity) is shocking – and yes it is a “family problem”, but there’s still no point in blurring the edges or wearing rose-tinted glasses… this is a serious problem and it’s only going to get worse. I love the cover of the book – it’s real life, so get over it. I know what Maggie feels like looking in that mirror – I was 20kgs overweight as a teenager and eventually signed myself up with Weigh Less, South Africa at the age of 18 – it was THE single best thing I could have done for my confidence and self image.So as long as Maggie has put herself on a very sensible, healthy eating plan all I can say is: GOOD FOR YOU MAGGIE! You can do it!
Good on you for speaking out Audrey. It’s great to hear from some one who has been through the experience themselves.
I think this book is a very misguided attempt at tackling a serious problem. Childhood obesity is not stemming from a lack of dieting among kids. Dieting, especially at a young age, is heavily correlated with binge eating disorder and other eating disorders later in life. Parents are the ones who need to be educated on a healthy lifestyle for their children, and how to implement it without contributing to their kids body image issues in a negative way. It’s not easy with all of the health and nutrition misinformation coming at us from the popular media.
Also, we really need to do something about the food offered to kids in school. I know I was hard pressed to find a vegetable in my high school cafeteria where pizza, burgers, fries, chips, cookies and ice cream were the staples which kids had to scarf down in the 15 minutes left of lunch period after standing in line to purchase them.
By the way, I was overweight/obese from the age of 6 through the age of 20 (I’m 28 now). I was painfully aware that I needed to lose weight (without the aid of a book to illustrate the point). I saw my mom diet and I wanted to do it too, so she encouraged me. Unfortunately it didn’t work for her and it didn’t work for me, and I am still working on building a healthy relationship with food again.
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