Picture Me

Picture Me by Lori Weber

When a well-meaning English teacher has overweight student Krista read aloud a poem about body image titled "Barbie Doll" in class, she ignites a simmering bullying event based on Krista's appearance. Krista's best friend, and witness to the event, Tessa, is suspended for fighting to defend her friend. The girl who bullies Krista seems unaffected by the incident at school and more concerned with what an older guy thinks of her. But as the three characters' paths intersect, their inner lives are revealed. Each emerges as a much more complicated individual than their simple bully, target, and witness labels.**


I received this story as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I was intrigued by this story. I wanted to see how Krista handled things happening to her and how the events touched others. The author had every chapter from a different girls point of view. Krista, Tessa and Chelsea, every chapter rotated.

Krista was the girl that was bullied the most, she's overweight and she gets made fun of for it constantly, mostly from Chelsea and her friends. It all comes to a head when Chelsea puts a photo-shopped picture of Krista up at school that just devastates her. Tessa is Krista's bff and so she takes up for Krista and gets in to a fight with Chelsea. Suspensions for both of the girls for fighting and Krista retreats into herself. She refuses to go back to school and that's the least of her issues.

Tessa gets suspended for fighting with Chelsea but she doesn't care, well she does but she was standing up for her best friend. They always have each others backs at school. Tessa's issues aren't as bad really as Kristas. Her issues are sad, her dad died in Afghanistan, and so her mom works a lot and Tessa has to pick up the slack with her little sister.  With Krista being gone from school and Chelsea being out for a week more than Tessa, Chelsea turns her anger towards Tessa.  All in all Tessa was the most normal of the three girls in this book.

Chelsea doesn't have a dad and her mom just doesn't seem to care, she has two boys but they live with their dad.  Chelsea is a mean girl, she just seriously is mean because she has a hard life. Shes hanging out with this guy that is way to old for her and he ends up selling her (basically) to the highest bidder, into a sex type thing. Honestly that poor girl is just a mess and it seems like NO ONE cares.

In the end I didn't hate the book but I was confused for a long time about it. Krista's mom works overnights but they just let her stay home from school for 3 weeks. Also she was sick for a long time and they just thought she was upset over being bullied? I don't know. Like I said before Tessa's family seems like the only normal family in this book and they lost their husband/father in war. Chelsea is messed up and her mother doesn't even notice. She could care less. This book ended so abruptly that I was like did that just happen. It ended so up in the air that I was sure that I hadn't gotten the full file until I saw the authors bio page. I left a few things out because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Check it out and let me know what you all think!

**Goodreads summary