Hannah is a brave girl who will try anything, and she really knows who she is...That is until she begins her 8th grade year at her new school. Hannah is the daughter of two famous actors, but she feels that she is awkward and fat. When she begins her life at her new school, she quickly gets in with the "popular" crowd, but she quickly realizes that that is not where she would like to be (and they recognize it too). Denying herself from being the person she really is and striving to look like her parents, Hannah becomes bulimic. Katrina Kittle does a great job of teaching the reader about bulimia. I learned so much about this disease that I did not know before reading this book. Kittle does a fabulous job of not only describing what physically takes place when someone has an eating disorder, but also what mentally happens. Hannah is a very true character dealing with a very true disease. I have hard time recognizing Hannah as an 8th grader. I kept picturing her a few years older based on the way she was able to handle situations and some of the thoughts that she had. I would recommend this book to 6-10th graders. I feel that they can learn a lot about bulimia, eating disorders, and social problems that young teens face. Wow… I picked up this book in 5th grade and strongly regretted it a little less then half way through the book because I was too young. This book is about 8th graders and I just got out of 7th grade for the summer and will be going into 8th grade, so I felt like it would be easier to connect to the characters at this point in my life. I felt that the issues of this book should have revolved more around teenagers/high school students instead of 8th graders, but they were almost in high school so that's okay. This book was truly amazing. It was a huge example of character development and surviving even in the toughest of times. It is also about finding you're own individuality and expressing and finding yourself. I loved how each character had their own problems and issues even though they act a certain way. This is one of truest books I have ever read and I really did love it.
What do You think about Reasons To Be Happy (2011)?
loved the struggle the character went through i could really understand it
—Dolgormaa
I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED IT !!! EVERY TEENAGE GIRL SHOULD READ IT .
—MKD
This author never disappoints! This was a great young adult story.
—forty
This book is haunting and gripping. Very informative and hopeful.
—khargosh
