From the Publisher
A YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Finalist
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens
A NCSS Notable Book
A Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction for Older Readers
A 2021 Booklist Editors' Choice
A New York Public Library Best Books of 2021
The myFace Courage Award
Texas Topaz Reading List Selection
"A gripping autobiography and a provocative interrogation of beauty that will resonate with many young readers, especially as they develop their own identities in a social-media focused culture." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"Expertly crafted, infused with emotional resonance and populated with flawed characters who grow and change as the story unfolds. Ariel’s richly detailed perspective allows the reader to deeply understand the trauma of experiencing so many difficult medical procedures, as well as the lifelong impact of bullying and discrimination... A must-read on self-love, beauty, disability, visibility, and community." —Booklist, starred review
"Complex and searing... This smart, richly detailed memoir is a compelling meditation on identity as well as a much-needed challenge to an ableist system." —Publishers Weekly
"With a perceptive analysis of the way beauty standards shape the most basic social values and a fascinating coming-of-age story told from a unique perspective, Henley’s memoir is not to be missed. Captivating, unflinching, and insightful, this title is highly recommend." —School Library Journal
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Ariel Henley narrates her story of growing up with Crouzon syndrome, a type of facial disfigurement. She and her identical twin, Zan, both afflicted, survived face-altering surgeries as doctors broke facial bones to make room for the growing organs in their skulls. Henley's dispassionate voice is riveting as she recounts the traumas of the multiple surgeries that made the twins look less like themselves and each other. They received little emotional support to deal with issues of identity and bullying. Henley's unemotional tone as she details the surgeries' consequences, as well as bullying by classmates, teachers, and society at large, will awaken the listener's awareness and acceptance of differences. Marketed to young adults, this is a book that adults would also be wise to visit. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-09-15
This memoir of a young White woman with Crouzon syndrome explores growing up with facial differences in an ableist, beauty-obsessed society.
Ariel and her twin sister, Zan, were born with a rare condition that affected the growth of their skull bones. Crouzon syndrome not only has medical repercussions—Zan and Ariel have seizures and problems with breathing, hearing, and vision—but a profound influence on the way the sisters look. From infancy, they were treated by physicians who were excited at the chance to work with such a rare condition and who sometimes couldn’t distinguish between aesthetic and medical motivations. As Ariel shows in her narration of the story of their childhood and adolescence, every milestone was touched not just by health difficulties and prejudice, but by the constant, ongoing surgeries the twins underwent beginning when they were 8 months old. In Ariel’s thoughtful and poignant telling, her own emerging awareness of and realizations about Western beauty standards didn’t change how she wanted to be perceived by the world; internalized fatphobia may seem almost mundane amid all this trauma, but the mistreatment resulting from “being fat and disfigured” ends up causing just as real a crisis. Though many events feel only loosely connected and the work reads almost like a series of essays, a narrative about Pablo Picasso and cubism ties together many otherwise fragmentary episodes.
Memoir as recovery: deeply thoughtful and eschewing too-tidy conclusions. (author’s note, sources, reading list) (Memoir. 12-18)
