Perfect

Perfect, by Natasha Friend, earned the Milkweed Prize or Children's Literature.

Published in 2004, Perfect is the story of 13-year-old Isabelle, whose younger sister just ratted her out to her mom:  Isabelle is bulimic.  Mom is still completing distracted by Isabelle's dad's death, but she puts Isabelle in group therapy to deal with the bulimia.  While in the group, Isabelle is amazed when Ashley, the prettiest and most popular girl in school, walks in.  The two form an unlikely and unhealthy friendship around their eating disorder, and Isabelle discovers that nothing is as it seems when appearances are all that matter.

I really enjoyed this one.  It's a pretty quick read, and it definitely targets readers from seventh to tenth grade;  girls will enjoy it MUCH more than boys!  One of my favorite things about the book is that Isabelle thinks that her family is the only messed up family on earth, and she discovers how untrue that is when she starts spending time at Ashley's.  

Go Ask Alice

I'm going to start out with a classic.  Go Ask Alice was first published in 1971.  It's the diary of a 15-year-old girl's experiences with drugs.  

We never learn the name of the narrator of Go Ask Alice.  The title of the book is taken from a song from the sixties called "White Rabbit."  The reference is to the down-the-rabbit-hole experience of drug use.

The book begins shortly after "Alice" has been embarrassed by a boy in school.  He asked her out and then stood her up, and she's sure that everybody at school knows and is laughing at her.  She's thrilled when her father announces a couple weeks later that the family is moving.  However, it takes time to make new friends at her new school.

That summer, while at a party, one of her new friends slips her a hit LSD in a bottle of Coke, and "Alice" is amazed at the experience.  This begins her transition into a completely different world.  She vacillates violently between believing that drugs take her to amazing places and recognizing that those places are actually dangerous and scary.

Go Ask Alice deals with some very intense issues.  The narrator talks about doing drugs, having sex, and running away.  None of these things are glorified, and the confusion involved in each is evident in her story.  This is definitely a realistic but cautionary tale.