Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
My Big Fat Secret
Lynn R. Schechter · 2009
72/100
👍 Worth It
For a tween wrestling with body image or stress eating, this epistolary novel meets them right where they are — the email format feels natural to that audience, and the practical tools woven in (recipes, action plans) give it real-world usefulness. It earned a Moonbeam Award and library adoption for good reason. It's didactic but never preachy, and that balance is harder to pull off than it looks.
✦ 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.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety85
Substance / usefulness72
Craft & writing74
Originality65
Evidence & accuracy76
Hype vs delivers72
Age-fit82
👁 Human-eye gut-check70
Penny’s verdict72
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