A Perfect Ten - Chris Higgns

So this post is about one of the first books I bought for myself as a child.  
At the time I didn't really think I had much to relate to it, but as I grew up I realised just how important the message was. 

So Eva, the main character is a normal girl in school and excels in gymnastics. She is an athlete and obsessed with staying in shape. She is her biggest critique and craves perfection in every aspect of her life. Not something I exactly related to when I was in school myself. 

As the book progresses you realise just how obsessed with staying in shape she is and it ends up costing her competitions. She starved herself trying to be as light as possible so she could pull off the moves needed to win the competitions. This came at a price and when Patty joins the gymnastics team she gets jealous. 

Patty is not exactly a thin girl, she's described as quite chunky. She doesn't let that get in the way of her goals to be a gymnast. She could move just as well as any of the other girls, despite looking a bit peculiar in the process. 

Eva wants to be the best, she has been for a very long time and has this strict idea that athletes should be thin; they should be toned and nimble, so when Patty joined with her larger figure, she immediately disliked her. 

The reason I chose this book to review is because I think it sent such a strong message. I was at school when I read this book and I was very heavily into running; I was so extremely thin that I looked unwell but to me I always felt fat and so I would run more and more and eat less. In the end I got very unhealthy but I didn't even realise. It wasn't that I was just physically unhealthy but mentally a young girl shouldn't be worrying about how thin she is, the same goes for boys. 

I relished in pride every time I lost a pound which is the same as Eva in the book. Patty for me is the inspiring person in this book. Against all odds she worked hard to be the best she could be without obsessing over little things such as weight. This for me is the strongest message in this book and I think it should be something young girls take into consideration. 

That's my review on The Perfect Ten by Chris Higgins :D 

Let me know what you think and if you have any requests for books you would like me to cover :) 

​Until next time ^^