Rating: 
Summary: TYPICAL
Review: typical super psychiatrist swoops in to save the day. this book i enjoyed but it is predictable and old school. Anoretics want to be thin for many mental and physical reasons. Its not oh im going to look at a magazine and say oh im going to starve myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Little Book in the World
Review: Once you get past the author's ego and blatant attempt at self praise, this is a really good book.
While reading this book, you must note that it takes place in 1978. Anorexia was a new disease. Kessa didn't know what we know now and the people around her didn't know what we know now about Anorexia. Dr. Levenkron had to present an extreme case because anorexia was so rare in those days. Kessa's case is a 'text book' case because there were hardly any cases in 1978 anyway.
The ending of the book makes her recovery seem simple, but that is not the actaul ending of Francesca's story. To learn about her recovery you would have to read a book title "Kessa".
The only problem I really had with this book is the way Levenkron makes Kessa seem like a hero. In the beginning of the book you almost want Kessa to trick her parents and you are proud of her when she refuses her food. If the reader wasn't aware of the fact that Anorexia Nervosa is a disease they would be cheering Kessa on and cursing her parents and doctor.
Other than a few small problems, this book is my favorite book and Dr. Levenkron is my hero.
Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Buy This Book!
Review: Steven Levenkron has created an ininformed, unrealistic, and poorly written account of life as a young female caught in the grips of an eating disorder. While his portrayal of the way an eating disorder completely overwhelms its victims' lives is fairly true to life, the ease with which Kessa, the novel's protaganist, recovers from her eating disorder is digustingly untrue. His book gives readers the idea that eating disorders are just something that you can snap out of if you try hard enough and believe in yourself. That once you begin an eating disorder it will be easy to go back to life as it once was, not having to drag the remnants of your disordered behavior with you for the rest of your life. I read this book when I was much younger, and thought it was wonderful. I idolized Kessa, and ignored Levenkron's half-hearted attempts at showing the severity of such disorders and the difficulties of recovery. Like many young girls I was intoxicated by his writing on Kessa's obsessive behavior, and only figured out many years later that he had no clue what he was talking about, and that there is nothing glamorous in eating disorders below the superficial surface. Having read the book again I am disgusted not only by Levenkron's writing, but by the public acclaim it has won. Books like this are part of the reason that eating disorders are so prevelant in our society today, and why so few people understand them. For a much more realistic and better written account of an eating disorder, read Wasted by Marya Hornbacher. Her writing can also be used by victims of eating disorders to glorify their disease, but she also emphasizes the horrible implications that the disease entails.
Rating:
Summary: I know what you are thinking
Review: This book grabs you and doesn't drop you till your through with the book. I am 10 years old and this book remains on the top of my list of favorites. I know what you are thinking that I am to little to read a book like this but, once I read the back of the book I was glued. This book took me to a new world it made me think, Mr. Levenkron was Kessa! The way he spoke through her. It is truly amazing. When you discover the world of Kessa it keeps you there. Stuck in the world of counting calories dividing them her riturals her thearipist the worried mother the upset father her brother at College and her show-off sister in California. Her life is no fairy tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Over simplified...
Review: I absolutly detested this book. I felt as though the author was talking down to me the entire time I was reading it. I am 24 years old and have been ana/mia on and off since I was eight (in ballet and striving to be the best little girl in the world myself).I feel that the author took too much liberty with the subject, and that treating ana/mia patients and being involved in their lives can only give an outsider so much insight, he was never (and will never be) a female struggling with an eating disorder and didn't convince me that he understood one iota of the disease's complexity. More than the story, it was the writing that irritated me. Having a doctorate does not an effective author make.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Anorexia book
Review: I have never related to a character more in my life then I did "kessa" (main character, obviously ana). It was like reading my mind, thoughts, story of my life. I was shocked and sort of scared to see how similar we were- but then again I realized I'm not alone on this one. I guess I completly recomend this to anyone who wants to understand eating disorders, or even to anyone who has one.
Rating:
Summary: For a Psychology Project
Review: My partner and I chose this book for a project for our AP psych class. Usually assigned reading isn't fun, but this book hit it off with us right from the start. Its a great read, and very difficult to put down. We were both done reading way before we were supposed to. It was very well written and very easy to relate to. Having friends that suffer from eating disorders, this was a huge wakeup call to how much trouble they are in, and why we will never again even think about aquiring an eating disorder. I was very informative and we would recommended it to anyone interested in eating disoders, psych, etc.
Rating:
Summary: review from one who knows...
Review: Having dealt with body image issues/ eating disorders both personally and in friends, this book hit home. it was an informative, interesting, and painfully honest book. I read the entire thing this weekend in less than 24 hours. i would recommend it to anyone interested in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, or eating disorders as wel as anyone who suffers or knows someone who suffers from an ed. excellent book!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Spotty but helpful
Review: This was one of the first books to give us a real inside-the-head look at anorexia, and as such it's quite an achievement. Levenkron isn't faking his experience; he knows as much about how it feels to have an eating disorder as any outsider. However, the book is weighed down by a bit of personal grandstanding on his part, and his theoretical model for EDs is either outdated or just plain wrong. This book has been rightly criticized as somewhat egotistical. Francesca wastes away, as an indifferent medical establishment either ignores her or subjects her to incompetent, infantilizing treatment (of the "young lady, you stop this silliness right now!" school) Finally, she meets with a wise, empathic psychologist who single-handedly drags her back from the brink. Doubtless Levenkron sees himself in the messianical Dr. Sherman. Levenkron also speaks to the audience during a couple of digressions dealing with the way physicians and psychiatrists look down on psychologists. This is material that I, as a psychologist, found somewhat interesting, but it's of dubious value in a book about a girl with an eating disorder. The psychology in the book is also questionable. It uses a model of eating disorders in which the initial cause is some variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is unlikely to ring true for many people with EDs (admittedly I've only discussed it with a few), and it's not supported by the research either. What saves _The Best Little Girl in the World_ from irrelevance is its compassion. It manages to convey a little about how it *feels* to have an eating disorder, something that can be terrfying and perplexing to a sufferer's loved ones. It's not the best description I've ever read, but it might resonate for some -- it's heart-rendingly sad, but decidedly less frenzied and disturbing than _Wasted_ and other books in the genre. Its inaccurate psychological model makes it less-than-perfect as an educational tool, but if you're already familiar with the factual information on eating disorders, this isn't a bad piece of fiction (or possibly bibliotherapy).
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Little Girl In The World
Review: The Best Little Girl In The World, by Steven Levenkron lead us into the mind of 15 year old Kessa who is suffering from Anorexia Nervosa, was defiantly on e of the best books that I have ever read. Kessa Dietrich brought life to the story as you learn more and more about her. Kessa's mind is all made up when Madame (her ballet Teacher) told her she needed to loose one or two pounds, but she had a different plan. She was going to become the best dancer. To do so she was going to have to be skinniest one out there. She thought thinner was the winner. So then began the start of Kessa' eating disorder. Starting that night kessa didn't eat, and the next day and the next and so on. She was dropping weight like crazy. Her world was controlled by food and calories, making it hard to fix her sickness.
The world tricks you by making you feel as if you should be perfect. Truth is . . . no one is. "I must be perfect (Kessa page 9)." When a comment is made to a girl or a young woman about their appearance it will stick with them forever. Just like Kessa will always remember Madame saying she should loose weight she takes it personally, I often do myself. Kessa is just a 15 year old girl who feels she is going through the world alone, but who doesn't? With my personal experiences that relate to this story I can say that it's not east to be a 15 year old girl. Excellent, would be the word comes to mind if you asked me what I thought of the book. Kessa's struggles build up to a great climax. Kessa is never eating but when she is forced; she takes the easy way out and throws it back up. When Kessa is put in the hospital near death and being fed through a tube, it really keeps you motivated to read more. When reading the book the author makes you feel like you there. The way Steven (the author) goes into detail with mood making you feel emotions and the setting paints a picture in your mind. Someone who likes true to life stories would especially enjoy this book. This book is probably for girls, but I encourage anyone to read it. When reading emotions run high, lots of struggles come up that occur to young women, so it's easier for them to relate to the story and Kessa. This book I would give 4 stars. It teaches valuable morals and you learn something new with every turn of the page, so get out there and start reading!
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