Picture Perfect Book Reviews
Newsday:
Zimmerman Rutledge strikes a delicate balance: Her writing is never over her young readers' heads, yet it does not condescend. She instructs readers to give themselves affirmations, called "Special Statements," to counteract their negative thoughts about their appearance. Then she coaches them to develop a plan of action for creating new, healthy habits and behaviors. What's particularly powerful are the real-life stories of adolescent girls (three in each chapter), who share their bad body-image experiences and solutions. Topics include weight and dieting concerns, materialism, teasing and bullying, and perfectionism.
Houston Chronicle:
Mothers will wish that Jill S. Zimmerman Rutledge's book Picture Perfect: What You Need to Feel Better About Your Body (Health Communications Inc., $14.95) was published when they were young. It would've spared them plenty of angst.
Rutledge's book explores common body image complaints made by preteen girls, including being too fat, too thin, not pretty and too busty.
For each issue, a girl shares her problem and how she feels about it. She develops a "special statement." Like affirmations, special statements are declarations about values and goals. With a new focus, each girl takes positive action toward self-acceptance.
For example, Emily thinks she is too short and wishes her body were curvier. She'd like to fit into the latest fashions, but they don't complement her body. Boys tease her about her looks and she feels ashamed.
Through talking with her mother, she learns that Diana Vreeland, the fashion icon, said, "Elegance is refusal." This sentiment becomes her special statement. She learns to dress her body to highlight her best features. As a result, she learns that she doesn't have to be perfect to look and feel good.
Girls will also get valuable ideas on how to change their self-image. Rutledge suggests that they find one good thing about their body and learn to appreciate it. Even if it's something insignificant, like their fingernails, they learn to value themselves and their developing bodies.
Instead of looking for external cues, Picture Perfect tells girls to look within themselves for approval.
That's a special statement for all ages.
HeyUGLY.com (Unique, Gifted, Lovable You):
Augusta Chronicle:
A self-help book for teen and pre-teen girls exploring body image, this book looks into the seven major issues of body image including distortion, perfection, food and weight. Quizzes, tips, affirmations and "action plans" make the book readable and informative.
One interesting feature is the advice from girls who have struggled with and solved their body-image problems.
THE VERDICT: Although it sometimes appears to have been written for younger readers, this book is helpful in making body- image issues real and giving worthwhile solutions.
YPP.net (Young People's Press)
FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOUR BODY
Picture Perfect--What You Need to Know to Feel Better About Your Body, is a new book for pre-teen and teenage girls on the pervasive issue of body image. Written by Jill Zimmerman Rutledge and published by HCI, it gives girls concrete solutions from other girls who have struggled with and solved their body image problems. It provides a formula for dealing with seven body image issues, teaching readers to give themselves affirmations to counteract their negative thoughts. The affirmations then move to action plans.
Marquette Monthly, March, 2008
8-18 Media book reviews for kids by kids
Picture Perfect: What You Need to Feel Better About Your Body
By Jill S. Zimmerman Rutledge Health Communications, Inc., 220 Pages
Regardless of age, ethnicity or place of birth, most girls have one thing in common: at one time or another, they have felt self-conscious about the way they look or wish they could change something about their looks.
Picture Perfect is a book that can help girls deal with these feelings. It features real-life girls sharing how they have felt and how they used the methods to overcome their feelings. Some ideas include special statements that help girls focus on the good things and positive features. Through the help of friends and family, the girls learned to live healthier lives as well as improve their overall mental and physical health.
By using special statements such as "I'm a creative chick, not a carbon copy" and "Healthy feels happy," girls better learn how to appreciate themselves. What really helps to make these statements work are the action plans the girls use to make them become reality. For example, when Angelina was thirteen years old, her grandmother to whom she was very close passed away.
Once this happened, Angelina became nervous and anxious and developed a problem of pulling out her hair. Now, a few years later, Angelina has worked through her issues but still feels very self-conscious about her still thin and almost balding head. To help keep up her strong face when cruel girls at school would tease her, Angelina made up the special statement: "I am fierce. I have resilience." To put her special statement into action, Angelina has decided that when her hair grows back fully, she's going to donate it to make wigs for other kids so they don't have to go through the kinds of teasing she had to endure.
There's a lot of pressure today on body image and having a perfect body. This book teaches that there is no such thing as a perfect body. It helps girls realize their true potential by focusing on their strengths.
No girl should have to feel the pressures put on her by outside influences. The book helps girls see how some irrational thoughts are hurting them and how to view themselves in a more positive way.
So, if you're ready to erase those negative thoughts and focus on your best features, this is the book for you. Although the book is appropriate for girls of any age, I recommend it for girls eleven to eighteen.
--Reviewed by Emily Stulz, 15
Dealing with the Stuff Book Reviews
Publisher's Weekly:
"Growing up brings new concerns and pressures for many kids. "Dealing With The Stuff That Makes Life Tough: The 10 Things That Stress Girls Out and How to Cope with Them'' by Jill Zimmerman Rutledge addresses body image, depression, boys, smoking, drinking and drugs, divorce, homosexuality and other sources of stress and anxiety for teenage girls. Testimonials of girls who have faced difficult situations reassure readers that they're not alone and provide concrete suggestions for addressing problems." (Dec. 8, 2003)
School Library Journal:
"Using quotes from women in history and anecdotal stories of adolescent girls, 'Dr. Jill' gives prescriptions for dealing with difficult situations. The chapters address relationships, drug addiction, stress, body image, parental divorce, insomnia, bullies, and having a crush on another girls, and the author offers several scenarios based on her years of experience as a psychotherapist. She encourages self-examination and taking action, including asking oneself questions and trying different remedies for problems. Every chapter encourages readers to find ways to respect themselves. The author admits that some situations are complicated and offers realistic solutions. For example, in the chapter regarding drugs and alcohol, she acknowledges that pressure from friends can be difficult. One solution she recommends is volunteering to be the designated driver, which relieves the pressure because it is then socially acceptable not to drink. Although the anecdotes are generic and include only a first name, they are broad in scope and right on target." (Karen Hoth, Marathon Middle/High School, FL, Jan. 2004)
Mothering Magazine:
"In Dealing With The Stuff That Makes Life Tough: The 10 Things That Stress Girls Out and How to Cope with Them , Jill Zimmerman Rutledge, MSW, LCSW offers grounded advice in teen-friendly language on everything from dating to body image to panic attacks. Real girls' stories impart techniques for creating a sense of inner calm." (from Latest and Greatest by Melissa Chianta, Nov./Dec. 2003)
Seventeen.com:
It's the favorite of our intern Lauren--it has real-girl stories and advice about everything: guys, smoking, drinking, parents' divorce, insomnia, time management, and being gay. Plus, it has lots of listings for other resources like Web sites, phone numbers, and reading lists for more info on whatever you're dealing with.
