Girl, Ultra-Processed: A bold, body-positive YA about friendship, dating and self-love.

Girl, Ultra-Processed: A bold, body-positive YA about friendship, dating and self-love.

By Author / Illustrator

Amara Sage

Genre

Personal Growth

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Faber & Faber

ISBN

9780571385911

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

16-01-2025

Synopsis

A searing look at diet culture and all its ugly consequences, from the talented writer of Influential.

New year, new me!  That's what Saffron Saldana tells herself as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
Her resolution is the same every year: lose weight.  Because Saffron has it hard-wired that weight loss equals happiness. It's what she's been told her whole life - online, in magazines, especially by her own diet-obsessed mother. But dieting is hard.

So to escape her own reality, Saffron creates Sydney, a super-slim, AI-generated 'perfect' version of herself. Boys online love Sydney, and for Saffron, it's just a bit of harmless fun.  Until the boundaries of her life online and offline begin to blur . . . And one boy in particular makes her question her desire to be someone she's not.  Can Saffron find a way back to herself, and learn to love who she actually is?

Girl: Ultra-Processed explores what it is like to be a teenage girl in our current body-obsessed world while juggling family drama, friend dynamics, dating, betrayals and major life changes.

Reviews

Linda

Girl, Ultra-Processed is a 'no holds barred' look at diet culture and how it can affect your mind, and how young girls compare themselves to the 'perfect' images they find online. The book also looks at the negative consequences of social media, especially dating apps…


As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, Saffron Saldana once again tells herself that her resolution is to lose weight. This is due to the belief that weight loss equals happiness. It's what she's been told her whole life - online, in magazines, especially by her own diet-obsessed mother. So why is she finding dieting so hard? Why do boys 'ghost' her online as soon as they see images of her, even though they have lots in common? It's just so unfair.


So to escape her own reality, Saffron creates Sydney, a super-slim, AI-generated 'perfect' version of herself. Boys online love Sydney, and for Saffron, it's just a bit of harmless fun, or is it? Can Saffron begin to love who she actually is; because if she doesn't love herself how can she possibly believe anyone else will?


Girl: Ultra-Processed is a perfect book for 14+ readers as it explores the challenges of what it is like to be a teenage girl in our body-obsessed world. The book is not all on one track. however, it does also explore themes of kindness, true friendship, family and a will-they-won't-they relationship.


Saffron's character and story is very relatable. Her experiences and thoughts will be familiar to so many young women and girls in this period of time where social media plays such an important part in their lives, and it would also be a great book for PSHE lessons in secondary schools.  I feel the book may have benefited having contact details for those out there that may need help or advice. That aside, I enjoyed this book, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read it. It has a great message with characters that readers of any age will easily relate to.


320 pages / Reviewed by Linda Brown, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 14+

 

Other titles