Smaller Sister

The accessible tone and format allow a difficult topic to be gently revealed with painful honesty balanced by humor and silliness... Compassionately approaches the stigma and mystery surrounding eating disorders. 

Gr 4-7--In this moving graphic novel, sisters Lucy and Olivia find their bond tested as one of them grapples with an eating disorder. Exactly 20 months apart, the girls are sometimes inseparable, though other times big sister Olivia wants Lucy nowhere near her. Lately, Olivia seems agitated, disengaged, and preoccupied with her appearance. Lucy learns that Olivia is anorexic and is seeking help from a team of specialists. As the school year continues, the distance between the girls grows as Olivia balances school, sports, and visits with doctors. Lucy wants her sister to get better, but she also feels the burden of being the healthy sibling who seemingly has it all together. Why is everyone ignoring her? Will she ever fit in at school? Will she get sick as well? There are so many unknowns, but Lucy wants her relationship with Olivia to be restored, especially as they navigate through a new series of life's challenges. In her debut graphic novel, Willis draws from her own childhood; the result is a resonant and achingly real work, featuring well-developed, imperfect characters. She makes complex themes easily comprehensible for kids, and her digital illustrations are the perfect complement to the narrative, highly detailed and reflective of the story's changing time line and mood. The author closes with an afterword containing resources for readers seeking further information. Lucy and Olivia are white. VERDICT Middle grade readers will be utterly absorbed by this heartfelt graphic novel that explores the complexities of family dynamics, body image, and self-acceptance.--Claire Moore,

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Willis's nuanced story of two white sisters navigating the middle school social minefield paints a realistic but hopeful portrait of the siblings' relationship with anorexia nervosa. Lucy, who is a rising fifth grader at the story's beginning, has always idolized her older sister Livy, only 20 months her senior. But when they start at a new school, they drift apart as Livy, rocked by the sudden change, exerts control by throwing away food and constantly exercising. The girls' parents intervene with love, occasional missteps, and a bevy of professionals, but Livy continues to lose weight, experiencing dysmorphia and suicidal ideation. Gradually, Livy begins to recover--just in time for a move to Boston that causes the sisters' well-being to seesaw. Lucy loses her youthful confidence under the punishing gaze of the new school's mean girls and starts trying to lose weight, telling her sister, "I can be better than you at this, Olivia." But Livy's support, combined with a confidence-boosting summer at theater camp and a couple of good friends, helps Lucy climb out of the dark hole of self-loathing. With ample empathy and expressive watercolors that depict a range of body types and skin tones, Willis's cathartic debut foregrounds a deep sisterly bond at a crossroads. Ages 8-12. Agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (May)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

[T]his captivating story together is [held together by] Lucy and Livy's unbreakable bond of sisterhood, authentically portrayed in both art and text. 

[A] resonant and achingly real work... Middle grade readers will be utterly absorbed by this heartfelt graphic novel that explores the complexities of family dynamics, body -image, and self-acceptance. —School Library Journal, starred review

The accessible tone and format allow a difficult topic to be gently revealed with painful honesty balanced by humor and silliness... Compassionately approaches the stigma and mystery surrounding eating disorders. —Kirkus, starred review

Willis's cathartic debut foregrounds a deep sisterly bond at a crossroads. —Publishers Weekly

[T]his captivating story together is [held together by] Lucy and Livy's unbreakable bond of sisterhood, authentically portrayed in both art and text. —Horn Book