Body Talk is a compilation of viewpoints all related to the human body and all that we endure with our own individuality. So much in past decades has been shown to society on what our bodies should look like and how we should share or not share that appearance with others. Body Talk gives us personalized stories broken down into differing subject matters that can relate to many of it's readers or teach others about anothers experience.

Body Talk is a wonderful collection of short stories from a wide range of real people talking about their real bodies. I’ve been dying to read one of Kelly Jensen’s anthologies because they all sound amazing. If you’ve never heard of them, We Are: Feminism for the Real World was released in 2017 & [Don’t] Call Me Crazy in 2018. I love that she’s found lots of people to tell their stories about important topics.

The story tellers in this anthology cover a wide range of human experiences, from body shapes to body hair, and the difficulties surrounding the body positive movement. Each story has a completely unique perspective on living life in a human body.

While reading through Body Talk I couldn’t help but feel seen in so many of the stories. We all have insecurities about our bodies and it’s therapeutic to read someone else having similar struggles. I also think it’s important for everyone to read about struggles that are not similar to our own. It helps with empathy and understanding that the human experience is both unique and universal.

I also really love the message of this book. Some of the stories are about learning to love and appreciate the body you live in. Maybe your body isn’t perfect, but it’s perfectly suited to you and a healthy relationship with your body leads to a more healthy you. And some of the stories point out how important it is to acknowledge that not all of us feel happy in the bodies we live in, and it’s ok to make changes that lead us to happiness or acceptance. It’s ok to have feelings, even the negative ones because it’s as important to explore those as it is the positive feelings.

Overall this book just has such a wide range of stories that make you think and reflect and I loved every bit of it. Thank you so much to Algonquin Young Readers for having me on this blog tour!

I really like this collection of stories, essays, comics, and art because it gives the reader perspective on just how vastly different bodies can be and that there is no “right” or “correct” body type that we all have to strive for. The informational sections are well written and inclusive. The essays and comics connect the reader to personal experiences of pain, joy, and acceptance that real people have gone through. Young people need this book, they need to be allowed to read about and talk about their bodies without shame. We all have bodies that we need to care for and love, it’s time we start doing just that.

Divided into sections with a common theme, this anthology combines a diverse group of authors who use personal essay, comics, lists and history to explore the expansive and complex topic of "bodies". Varying in subject matter and experience, each story in the collection engages with embodied identities in a way that is accessible and encourages personal reflection. A great starting point to begin thinking critically about the how bodies are viewed and experienced socially, culturally, and personally.

Not really for me. I appreciate everything this book does but I didnt actually enjoy my time reading it. Its probably meant for younger audience so I can't hold it against the book. I also love anthologies! The stories just started to drag for me and I found myself avoiding reading.

I personally don’t know anyone who hasn’t been body shamed. For one, many of us Filipinos are still notorious for this. “Oy, tumaba ka!” or “Oy, pumayat ka!” is our “Kumusta?” Get offended, and you risk being called “pikon.” Try to educate that person, and you risk being called “daming alam.” You laugh along, and you risk… well, your self. Body acceptance then becomes a continuous struggle. And this is why it’s important to constantly have conversations about real bodies. To have stories about real bodies, and to celebrate real bodies. Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy by Kelly Jensen is one book that does these things.

Anybody who has a body will see themselves in this book, so yes, definitely bookshelf-worthy. Each story carries a significant weight of vulnerability, and it would be hard not to relate to every pain and to celebrate every victory, big or small. These are real people talking about their very real bodies as they are (zero bullshit, zero preaching), from back braces and amputations to chronic pain and “invisible” illnesses, and sometimes they would be funny or heartbreaking or even educational, but they would always be familiar. So many things and lessons that do not only hit home but also serve as a snap back to what lies true, and the hope is that, the message of this book gets spread to more people so we can fully embrace the fact that our bodies have always been enough all along.

As a person who has Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus with scoliosis lordosis and kyphosis as well as 4 severe vision impairments, I have had many brain surgeries and discussions about the pros, cons and probabilities of success of further surgery on different parts of my body throughout my life. And I have the scalp and abdomen scars to prove it.

I had hangups about my body as a child and teen and it took me a long time to love what I have so I sympathised with everyone in this book. And I was, and am, a sloucher despite my wheelchair seating.

I was drawn to this anthology as I always love to see what other people's experiences of disability were.

Body Talk is honest, raw and at times told with a touch of true-to-life humor. It's one of those books that I think of it were around when I was at school, it would have gone a long way towards making my teachers and classmates aware of disability and body issues.

It shows us that, even today, society has a long way to go to really be accepting. But above all, it shows that anyone is unique.

I recommend it to adults and adolescents alike. Some parts could hopefully help children who are curious about disabilities understand them better. It's written in a format that has a great pace and which invited me to become immersed in the book.

I knew about some conditions and disabilities but learnt about others, so the book is educational but also laid-back. This approach is a good way to deal with often sensitive issues. All I can hope, as a disabled person, is that one day true inclusion of disabled people in society will be achieved.

Thanks to Kelly Jensen and Algonquin for my ARC in exchange for an honest review, and a blog tour slot.

5 stars.

Body Talk is an approachable, educational, and inclusive book that allows all of our unique bodies to be in the spotlight. I seriously can't wait to flip through these pages again and allow the stories to open up conversations with friends and family!

I first learned about Kelly Jensen when I was introduced to her 2018 compilation (Don’t) Call Me Crazy. I love that the stories she collects are targeted towards teens and young adults (but really are for everyone) and that they include a variety of authors and experiences.

One of the things I love most about non-fiction books is their ability to make you feel less alone and her anthologies are made for this. I remember vividly my experiences of visiting the library as a pre-teen and adolescent and looking for books that would demystify and normalize our bodies, our complicated feelings, and the worries we all had but rarely discussed – but most of the time I would come up short.

We are lucky to finally live in a time where a lot of things have changed. YA authors take on important and multifaceted issues more often than not, we have the internet at our fingertips and there are resources galore. But that also comes with a struggle, information overload!

Enter Body Talk. Kelly Jensen compiled stories from 37 diverse voices that explore the beautiful and diverse bodies we inhabit – from the complexities we have from our own feelings to what society expects of them. She includes stories that are heartwarming and some that are heartbreaking, and everything in between. I love the inclusivity in this anthology and while it would be impossible to include everything, I love that most readers could relate in some way.

When we share our own unique experiences with one another, the more we are actually able to understand each other and ourselves. While we all experience life differently, but we can all relate to the complexities and intricacies of being human and what that feels like both physically and emotionally.

And you cannot talk about bodies without talking about the shame and anxiety that can come along with it and this theme was woven in throughout the stories and text in. The Q&A sections were a wonderful and informative addition and the gorgeous artwork brings it all together. I highly recommend this for readers of all ages and am so happy to have this collection on our family’s bookshelf because I know I will refer back to it again and again.

Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers for a gifted copy. As always, all opinons are my own.

I wish I had Body Talk back when I was a teenager. It is the kind of book I would love to get into the hands of every insecure kid out there – and all the ones who project outward confidence for that matter – to give them perspective on themselves and the world around them. Understanding for what other people might be experiencing, helping to build empathy.

All of us have insecurities, especially when it comes to our bodies. Reading the very personal contributions from these writers, from names as big as Tyra Banks or Roshani Chokshi, or any of the thirty-five other contributors makes one realise that not a single one of us is free of these worries. And that is why Body Talk is such an important book.

Kelly Jensen has done a fantastic job compiling the voices featured in Body Talk, and enhancing the contributions through clever explanations of some topics that are commonly misconceived or FAQs that teens might have about certain issues. This makes the collection invaluable for young people and a fantastic resource for parents and schools to have on hand. Please get copies of this book and distribute them to the young people in your life so they can grow up feeling validated and reassured!

While this wasn’t my favorite book about bodies, I did enjoy many of the essays as well as the useful facts and insight sprinkled throughout the book. Some of the essays seemed to contradict each other a bit, which I felt was a realistic, if slightly frustrating, example of the reality of our relationships with our bodies. This is a book I will share with some of my teen students with great interest about how they will respond.

We’ve been trained by the media to expect people’s exteriors to reflect their interiors, but in real life they rarely do. If you looked at the scars on my face and pegged me as a comic book villain, you’d be wrong – I don’t have any plans to destroy Gotham.

D. M. Moehrle – Visible Scar Club

The first thing that impressed me about this book was the contents page. It’s split into six different sections, each with fun little titles (e.g ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’, ‘Below the Belt’) that broadly cover a specific theme. I say theme rather than topic, because the pieces can not all be shoved neatly into a particular category: for example, there are three pieces about scoliosis in Body Talk, but all three aren’t in the same category, as they deal with different aspects of what scoliosis means to each particular writer.

Glancing through the contents page, I could immediately see that the book was full of ownvoices art and essays that covered a wide range of topics. And that the voices were a diverse range of authors who were clearly not primarily white: hair, teeth, cancer, scars, scoliosis, facial hair (men and women), fat acceptance, menstruation, asexuality, sexual organs, make-up, trigger warnings, self-care, hormones, body image, trans allyship, body positivity.

And that’s just at first glance. When reading through, I could also found essays and art about dwarfism, chronic pain, PCOS, birthmarks, eating disorders, invisible illnesses, IBS, and more.

The second thing that impressed me is the mini-sections throughout called Body Talk FAQs. Before Body Talk, I had read through both of Jensen’s other non-fiction anthologies, which follow a similar format. So it was less the format of the questions that impressed me, more the range of topics covered: tattoos, accessibility, the pink tax, sleep, is it okay to use the word fat…

My favourite Body Talk FAQ was ‘What are the best terms to use for disabled people?’ Because as a disabled person (I’m autistic!) I am biased as fuck when it comes to identity-first language. So I was really pleased to see Jensen write that most disabled people prefer identity-first language, and why.

Another Body Talk FAQ I was struck by was ‘What’s the difference between body positivity and fat acceptance?’. Until I read this, I had no idea they were different things. As a fat 30-year-old woman, it was definitely good to know, and it’s brilliant to think of its intended YA audience being informed this well.

But the best thing about Body Talk was the intersectionality. Many of the pieces were written by people who hold multiple identifies. They brilliantly showed how those identifies, and backgrounds informed the different issues and opinions they held towards their own bodies.

Another remarkable thing about Body Talk is that that – almost without exception – all the pieces have tones that are brilliantly suited for young adults. They are informative yet approachable, honest but hopeful, and encouraging without veering it being trite (except once or twice). Some of them have flashes of clever humour, others make your breath catch. You can tell that some of the writers (such as Eric Smith, and Kati Gardner) write YA.

And I also can’t properly review Body Talk without also giving a shout-out to the art pieces that are spread throughout. My favourite piece is a comic called ‘Thin’ by Yao Xiao, which shows the relationship she has with weight across two cultures with very different ideas of what is the “normal” weight: America and China. The last panel in particular is a standout.

There are also a list of resources at the end of the book, with further reading (non-fiction and fiction) about various facets of our bodies. The only drawback to the list is that it isn’t as extensive as the resources in Jensen’s other two non-fiction anthologies.

This is definitely a book to give any young person you know who likes to read (or, really, anyone who enjoys to read who has any iota of interest in becoming more intersectional in their worldview). I think this – like all of Jensen’s anthologies – would also be a particularly neat read for writers who like to hear about other writers’ processes.

It honestly makes my heart ache a little that we live in a time where a book like this is even available for young adults. I really think it would open anyone’s world up.

ARC from NetGalley and Alquonin Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Sort of a cross between memoir and straight information. As a collection of essays we have a variety of approaches. Some tell a story. Others simply relay factual (or occasionally personal) information. With an assortment of writing styles, not all of these essays will be engaging for all readers. And since the goal is to reduce the shame we feel in association with discussions of our bodies, as long as even one essay connects with a reader it's achieved its goal.

This collection was very powerful and just solidified my appreciation for myself so much more, and I think It can be a good tool for other people as well. I would suggest that if you are currently in a negative state with your body image you may find some of the stories to be a little bit triggering, but overall it is something I am glad to have read and proud to have been included in this tour.

Thank you so much to Algonquin Young Readers for the chance to read this beautiful book about bodies! I really enjoyed each piece that was lovingly added to this anthology.

Lasting Impressions

After finishing this anthology, I sat with my emotions for some time. I felt so uplifted by the book. Some of the stories and funny and sweet, and some are hard to read because of the pain and emotions the authors write about, but all of these stories had such a positive impression on me. This book explores so much about all different kinds of bodies, from scoliosis, facial hair, endometriosis, chronic illness, and so much more and it explores these topics in essays, FAQs, comic strips, and beautiful illustrations. The diversity in topics and the diverse ways these stories were told made for a very enjoyable read that had me reading quickly, instead of pausing between stories like I usually do with anthologies.

My personal favorite essays include those by Eugene Grant, Eric Smith, Julie Murphy, Anna-Marie McLemore, Roshani Chokshi, Kara Thomas, and Gavin Grimm. However, each essay is incredible in their own way, and different ones will touch different readers.

Overall Feelings

I loved the experience of reading this book, and I'll definitely be sharing with others!

This book spoke to me on so many levels. I loved the variety of content and bodies covered. So greatly for this.

I've heard a lot of good things about these anthologies by Kelly Jensen, but I never took the time to check one out. And I was missing out, because it was such a fun and insightful read.

I say fun read, but parts of this weren't fun to read because they were emotional and sad. I mean, we all have problems with our bodies, right? Lots of these stories were heartbreaking, seeing people be in pain, or having other people not take them seriously. I saw myself in a lot of them. And I saw a lot of struggles that I have no experience with. It was all such a valuable learning experience.

What I liked most is that the essays were short, and they were interspersed with tips and facts about the body. There were some cartoons, too, which was a welcome change from all the writing. I will give y'all a heads up that there are drawings of naked women in here, but it's cartoony. Actually, the illustrations are so nicely done that it was one of my favorite parts of the book - not to sound like a creep, lol. I just liked how it highlighted so many different kinds of female bodies - thin, plus-size, stretch marks, white, black, disabled, trans, and all sorts of different hair types, etc. It was just so awesome to see all of that in a positive manner. The art is really cool!

So I have to give this a thoroughly positive review and recommend it to everybody who has a body, haha. Trigger warnings abound, because this collection covers a vast variety of experiences. Just read with caution, and I think you will enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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What an incredible anthology! Although this is a “young readers” book, this is a key read for all ages. It is a mix of both powerful personal stories and more educational pieces that feels balanced and eye-opening.

Body Talk covers a range of topics allowing many people to feel see and others to better understand experiences they are unfamiliar with. Also important is the focus on using proper language when addressing people. Topics touched on in the anthology include weight stigma, gender identity, sexuality, body hair, various physical disabilities, periods & reproductive health, and more. There is so much to be taken out of each story, whether you feel seen by it or are learning from it.

The writing in the actual essays was also excellent. Each one had a distinct voice and personality to it which both added to the reading experience and made the piece feel even more authentic. There was not one essay in the collection that I felt wasn’t well-written and captivating.

Final Verdict:

Read this. Read it again. And then pass it on to everyone you know. It’s a compelling read that flies by and has something for everyone.

Body Talk was a really wonderful read most of the time. I enjoyed most of the essays, comics, pieces, etc in this collection a ton. The one area that I had issues with every time it came up was Tyra Banks. The parts written by her felt ignorant about the issues she was speaking on. To have a supermodel talking about fatness only to be pointing at other supermodels and famous actors(people that still have ideal bodies by most western standards) as examples of lovable "non-thin" felt hurtful. In between stories of disability and fatness that made me feel seen and heard I didn't enjoy having someone point out Ashley Graham as an example of an abnormal body. My honest advice would be to read this collection(there are some truly stand out and poignant pieces within), but to just skip over Tyra Banks' three additions.

Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy by Kelly Jensen, 256 pages. Algonquin Young Readers (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill), 2020. $17. LGBTQIA, short stories, non-fiction
Language: R (44 swears, 5 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
While all of us have bodies, not all bodies are the same. Most of us have several similarities, but the media often focuses on our differences and what makes us imperfect. Each of the voices sharing their story here admits their imperfections as assigned by the media thrown into our faces, and each of them choose to dismiss that view and love themselves instead.
This book has two main purposes that I could see. First, the writers are fighting stereotypes of ableism, sexism, racism, and sizeism by informing readers of their realities. Secondly, the writers address fears and issues that not everyone experiences but use their differences to reach out to all readers, saying that, no matter how you fall short of the image of the media, you are amazing. The mature content rating is for mention of alcohol, sexual assault, oral sex, digital sex, and vaginal sex; discussion of masturbation and sexual organs; and drawn illustrations of nude men and women. The violence rating is for mention of child abuse, self harm, and eating disorders.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen