Reviews
"This is an important book about a new way of thinking about one of the least understood illnesses. It opened my mind and filled me with greater compassion. Parents of young daughters should consider "Brave Girl Eating" a must-read." --Jennifer Griffith, Eastern Arizona Courier, July 6, 2011
"I admire those who stand tall and give a voice to this disease and this book has turned out to be one of my absolute favorites on the subject - I will, without a doubt, end up reading it again and again." --bookshipper.blogspot.com
"Riveting, eloquent, achingly honest." --Family Circle magazine
"Harriet Brown is a reporter by trade, and she brings some of that fact-finding expertise and ability to explain and evoke empathy without being overly dramatic. . . . yet this is a heart-wrenching book. It reminds me a lot of Beautiful Boy, written by another journalist, David Sheff, about his son’s addiction to crystal meth.
"I’ve given this book 5 Stars, because it’s honest, true, helpful, relevant and the story pulled me along and made me feel and think." --Jennifer Donovan, ABooksBlog.com
"Brown's book, about how her daughter became anorexic and nearly died is both shatteringly honest, moving, and full of hope. Read it for the beauty of the prose. Read it for the way you won't be able to sleep until you've finished. And read it for the real answers Brown provides. A stunner." --Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
"An honest account of a family dealing with the beast of anorexia. For families who are battling this illness, this book is a breath of fresh air that offers hope and evidence based practices that can help them wrestle their children from the beast. For people who have never thought about anorexia, or who blame dysfunctional families for creating it, this book is an eye opening refutation of misinformation and myth. Ms. Brown offers a harrowing, heart breaking, and ultimately uplifting story of how one family saved their daughter's life." --A reader
"Brown's book is by far the most balanced, comprehensive, well-researched and breathtakingly written book on this horrible and misunderstood disease.
Thank GOD she's dispelling the ridiculous myths that (1) eating disorders are a choice (2) they are a middle-class vanity.
This must be added to any collection." --A reader
BRAVE GIRL EATING is soooooo good! I am a therapist in Des Moines, Iowa,
specializing in eating disorders. I started ED work in the early 80s and
over the years have tried many approaches. But nothing compares to FBT when it comes to teenagers and families. Today, in the picnic lunch session, a blended family with parents and stepparents and siblings came to the session armed with Brave Girl Eating. Everyone was on the same page, same line, same word, same letter and I believe your story speaks in such a way that really mobilizes parents to take charge of refeeding their son or daughter. Another young teenager and her mother, father, brother and sister came in for the lunch session and the mother said your book "is exactly our life." You shared how you would "make"
Kitty eat, so that she wouldn't feel guilty, that she HAD to eat the food, and
you really have helped me explain this aspect of refeeding to families. Every session with every family is about bravery--one bite at a time. Your book
offers language to parents and teens--they get it. When they read your book,
light bulbs go off.
-- Lynne Vestal
I am an eating disorder family-based therapist in the DC metro area and have been working in the field for 30 years, 25 of them utilizing families to aid in recovery. I rarely find books I like reading on eating disorders (professional, personal experiences, whatever) and I find most have what I consider the fatal 20 pages that I'd have to remove to recommend. Your book is TERRIFIC and I have already recommended it to several families I am seeing (without removing a page!). It is a wonderful combination of your heart-wrenching and heartfelt experiences backed by facts, data and information from the professional eating disorder world of research and practice. Thank you for sharing your story and for providing a really valuable resource for many families struggling with eating disorders.
-- Laura Ratner, LCSW-C, BCD
