Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Emily's Secret
Linda Barr · 1987
57/100
👎 Skip It
This Lifelines series entry tackles bulimia with clear educational intent and handles the topic carefully, but the treatment stays surface-level on a genuinely complex psychological issue. Better, more nuanced books on eating disorders have been written since 1994, and readers who need this subject covered sensitively will find stronger options.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: eating disorder depictions · bulimia behavior described · potentially triggering for vulnerable readers. We still scored it 57; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety62
Substance / usefulness58
Craft & writing61
Originality48
Evidence & accuracy70
Hype vs delivers68
Age-fit66
👁 Human-eye gut-check55
Penny’s verdict57
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