You Can’t Catch Me by Becca Ann (Cassie Mae)

Blurb: My body suuuucks. After lounging around on my butt all summer (okay, so maybe that was my bad), this body decided to become something completely foreign. So now I’m trying to make the track team and I feel like I’m a baby learning to walk again.

A couple pounds wouldn’t have been so bad. Work those off, run like a mad woman, no problem, yeah? But no. I’ve also developed a couple of things that I definitely didn’t have before. And now my guy friends are all sitting in a pool of drool as they not-so-subtly stare at my chest.

Combine all that drama with the fact that the new track coach is getting major flack for being a little chunky, and all I’m trying to do is convince the team that I’m not running slower because of her coaching style.

Oh, and did I mention that I’m totally falling face-first in “like” with some guy I met in a cemetery? And no one understands it just because he’s also a little chunky. But he’s also adorable and wonderfully weird and I don’t care what they say, his look sure does it for me.

But… I don’t know… how can I be in “like” with someone, when I have no clue how to like myself anymore?

5 Stars!

This is the best body image book I have ever read!  I don’t even know how to give this book a proper review, I feel anything I say will not do the book justice.

She touches on how uncomfortable it is when our bodies change (puberty sucks) and we feel awkward in them, relearning how to move and dress.  How the attention from people we thought we knew changes and we don’t know how to deal with it.  There are no rule books for when we grow up.  At least none that I was aware of when I was Ginger’s age.  This book should be mandatory reading in high school.  I am definitely saving it for when my daughter becomes a teenager.

This book would have been a godsend to me as a teenager because I would have felt less alone in my feelings of awkwardness.  I loved how she didn’t give up.  Ginger could have easily allowed herself to fall into the pity pool.  Her determination and her sense of competitiveness is something that is admirable in a female at her age.  Many succumb to peer pressure and conform. She is a horse of a different color and an inspiration to girls everywhere.  Ok, that last part sounded cheesy but it doesn’t make it any less true.

I floved the love sub-story.  It was sweet and slow and original in how they met.  I don’t know how CM does it but every story has a different element of originality to them.  And this one is no exception.  I especially loved how they ‘talked’ through post-its and they didn’t really have any contact for the first half of the book, even if I was getting antsy for some action.  It was totally worth the wait though.

I highly recommend this book to all.