cover image Monday I Love You

Monday I Love You

Constance Greene. HarperCollins Publishers, $11.95 (170pp) ISBN 978-0-06-022183-6

Without an understanding or empathy for 15-year-old Grace's obsession with her 38D chest or overweight body, readers may have trouble identifying with her. These worries take up most of this story, in which Grace is shown relating well to the young children she babysits, but not to her parents or her cruel peers who have consistently rejected her throughout her life. A bizarre series of events, involving a humiliating prank in the girls' bathroom, a rescue by her gym teacher (who becomes her friend), an escaped murderer and a classmate, Walter, help Grace gain some self-respect. The jacket painting is deceiving, showing a waif (from Grace's memory of a happier, simpler time in her life) that bears no resemblance to the ungainly person between the covers. Ages 12-up. (July)