Winter Girls

“Dead girl walking”, the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secret”, the girls whisper, one toilet to another. I am that girl. I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame. Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit. Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.