December Secrets

Patricia Reilly Giff

Dec 2008 · The Kids of the Polk Street School Book 4 · Sold by Yearling

About this ebook

Emily is stuck with crybaby Jill Simon as her "secret Pal" to be kind to for the whole month of December.

Ratings and reviews

My daughter was assigned this book in school. The main character (Emily) and other students are extremely cruel to a girl names Jill. They constantly refer to her as being fat and use very cruel names when describing her. The main character does things like give Jill a skinny pencil so Jill will want to be skinny, and leave pictures of vegetables on her desk so she will go on a diet. In the end the girls become friends of course, but Emily still does things like tell Jill she looks good today but crosses her fingers behind her back since she really looks fat like always. After reading this book my 7 year old daughter, who is at a perfectly healthy weight started doing exercises and saying she needed to be skinnier. Prior to reading this book she has never mentioned her own or anyone else's weight. She said she is fat and needs to be skinny. I am disgusted by this book and feel is should not be used in schools. I did let her teacher know about my daughter's reaction. I would no recommend this book to any child and would give it zero stars.

Did you find this helpful?

Yes

No

About the author

Patricia Reilly Giff has recieved the Newbery Honor for Pictures of Hollis Woods and Lily’s Crossing, which is also a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. Nory Ryan’s Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book.

Blanche Sims is a children’s book illustrator, born in Cleveland, Ohio. She has illustrated dozens of books, as well as the television film Beyond the Butterfly, which won a Parents’ Choice Foundation commendation for television in 2000.