This is an honest and moving account of a girl in the grip of anorexia nervosa. On the face of it, Leslie is a normal, healthy, well-adjusted fourteen-year-old girl. She goes to a good school, has a great friend in Cavett, and a mother who loves her to the moon and back. She should be happy, yet she's not. She would be, she thinks, if only she were thinner. But 'thinking thin' becomes a dangerous obsession and Leslie's weight drops to five stone, threatening to destroy her and the whole fabric of her family life. Only by realizing that this condition is an illness - and one that has its roots in a deep problem - can Leslie hope to survive. [This book description comes from a different edition of this title. Please report any inaccuracies].

 

 

This book features in the following series: Knopf Fiction, Lions Series .

There are 170 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2001 by Walker Books Ltd .

Deborah Hautzig was born and brought up in New York City. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote journals, stories and poetry from a very young age. Her first novel, Hey Dollface, was written when she was twenty-one. Second Star to the Right was first published in 1981 and continues to be an important book today.