Jemima Small Versus the Universe by Tamsin Winter
“This is such a lovely story of female empowerment. Any girl who was or is being bullied at school should find inspiration from this emotional story of a child on the cusp of young adulthood. Sometimes the way you are made to feel about your body or your looks can have such a lasting damaging effect on self esteem. Sometimes even your closest family find it hard to understand. The main character, Jemima, does have a valuable close friendship, a loving aunt, a group of people going through the same worries and an inspiring mentor. Still it is hard for her to shrug off the comments and stares from classmates and strangers. I will definitely be recommending this to students at school. Reading books like this helps develop empathy and this is a great example of providing characters that help children to see themselves in literature. It is also very funny in parts.”