Some times we live in a bubble thinking we are the only person thinking, feeling and suffering though this situations. Turns out, there are many people like us, or even, people that go though more difficult or incredible situations. Taking about them might give us the perspective we need to see thing with a different light.

Body talk provides a clear insight on how bodies might play against us, but is up to us to keep a path of self acceptance and look for the help and support we need. At the end of the day, no human being is 100% perfect.

The collection of short essays (actually more of a get to know me text) present series of own voices insight of different individuals that have face body related issues (chronic disease, health conditions or physical disability), laying down a truthful picture of what its to live in their skin (taking limitations, self loath and purpose searching reactions), as well as how society needs to understand the wrong paths it has taken, building an acceptance of illogical and non real beauty and normality standards.

A book about understanding that inclusivity does not mean lowering standards but to give fair treatment and to create and awarenes of other's realities.

And amazing book to ponder on your self image and that deemed acceptable. A book to make changes, to start creating a real normality.

Excellent tool for classroom discussion and debate.

A copy of the book was acquired through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the free advance copy of this book.

BODY TALK is a collection of works from 37 authors, celebrities, illustrators and more exploring all the many ways to have and to live in a body.

At first glance, BODY TALK may appear to be another book for tweens and teens talking about how their bodies are changing. And there's some of that, but wow, it is so much more. This book is a place where everyone gets to show what it's like inside their body. Fat bodies, disabled bodies, Black and brown bodies, trans bodies, hairy bodies, chronically ill bodies, and more. And they're all about how there's no right way to have a body, no dumb questions to have about your body, and about taking ownership of and joy in the complexities and oddities of being alive.

One thing that struck me as an adult reader of this book is how many of these stories are by women who had a hard time getting medical professionals to take their pain and illness seriously, especially when it had to do with reproductive health. It might have stuck out to me since I've had similar struggles, but it is still rather shocking to have a book with such a broad array of experiences and still see so many stories with this common throughline.

Thank you to the publisher, Algonquin Young Readers, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who doesn't read a lot of non-fiction or anthologies, this book was a beautiful surprise and I absolutely loved it. The contributions throughout vary as much in topic as they do in format which made it a really easy and interesting reading. There will be stories that you relate to, stories that open your eyes to experiences you haven't shared, stories that make you feel less alone, stories that make you smile, make you laugh, make you cry. It encourages you to embrace the body that you were given as well as to celebrate each body's uniqueness and wonder in the most perfect way.

One of the things that I like most about anthologies is that you get to read from so many different perspectives and hear so many different voices all in one book. In Body Talk there are contributions from people you will probably know, such as Tyra Banks, but it also introduces you to many more people from many different backgrounds and all contributors are given a voice and a chance to share their experiences in the way that they wish to do it, whether that be an essay, a letter, a list, an illustration, or something else. It also has FAQ sections dotted throughout with important information related to the entries which I really loved.

In just the first few entries, there are already discussions and mentions of disability, sexuality, gender, race, mental illness, and this is just the start of the diversity that follows throughout the whole book. Diversity is something that is really important to me and that I always seek out in the books I read and this is one of the best books I've ever read for that. I really appreciate how Kelly Jensen made this such a focus point rather than missing any of these important communities out.

Finally, a great thing about an anthology is the many different ways you can read it and access it. You can read it cover to cover, you can dip in and out of it, you can pick out essays and stories to read as they interest you, you can easily go back and re-read the ones that have stuck with you the most and so much more. Reading an anthology is a reading experience like no other and I love it.

This is such an important book that I think will help many people, especially young people, learn to accept the body that they have been given and to love themselves for who they are. It helps show that you are not alone, that everyone struggles in some way with their image, but that it is possible to embrace it and to see the positives. I hope many people get the opportunity to read it.

I really do love these books. Here We Are, Don't Call Me Crazy, and now Body Talk... I've loved each one of them with a fiery passion. I love the diverse array of voices represented; the way they are somehow light and funny, but also serious; the way they make me feel better, but also make me cry. I don't know it it's partly to do with the time this book found me at, but Body Talk made me sob cathartic tears.

You can never represent everyone, but I admire how much these books try. This one covers scoliosis, dwarfism, fat, facial hair, teeth, cultural differences in fat/body shaming, black bodies, trans bodies, cancer, periods, sex, endometriosis, modelling, urological and endocrine disorders, amongst other things.

Some of it is gory and discomfiting, though necessary, like Anna-Marie McLemore's piece about their misshapen uterus and the subsequent medical failures they had to endure. Some of it is heartwarming, like Sara Saedi's touching story of her immigrant parents who left a country they loved, worked long hours at jobs they didn’t love, to pay for her healthcare and dental care.

Obviously, Body Talk has a lot to say about the physical aspects of the body, disability, and illness, but it is also at least as much about the emotional impact of living in a society that only caters for, and desires, certain types of bodies. You cannot talk about the human body without also addressing body-shaming and body anxiety, both of which feature heavily throughout this collection. Though, while shame, anxiety and pain are major themes, I found the book to be ultimately very uplifting and affirming.

As with the other books that came before it, Body Talk contains a fun mix of prose, graphic stories, interviews, gorgeous artwork, playlists and Q&As with an endocrinologist and urologist. Another diverse, inspiring collection that was a pleasure to read!

This is another great collection from editor Kelly Jensen. Jensen has compiled many different experiences here that share the complexities of our relationships to our bodies. There are some serious quite informational blurbs here and there, but the majority of the book is filled with narratives of very personal thoughts and feelings about bodies. As with any compilation, some of the pieces worked better for me than others, but this is a highly recommended purchase in my eyes. Young people, and older folks too if we're being honest, often struggle with how they see their own bodies and here they can many positive and healthy ways to relate to and celebrate our bodies.

Highly recommended.

Oh how I wish I'd had this book as a teen! Even in my 20s it means everything to me to read this book. Body Talk (along with Kelly's other anthologies) belong on every library shelf and accessible to every teen. Each essay in this anthology covers a different personal story related to bodies. Everyone should read this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was absolutely delighted to have the chance to read this E-ARC. If you know me, you know that I am all about body positivity, fat positivity, sex positivity, and just the idea of people having general knowledge about bodies. So before I even started reading this, I knew I would enjoy parts of it at least - and I did! I"m happy to say I ended up loving it a lot; I enjoyed about 90% of the essays/stories, and therefore will be giving it a 4/5 star rating. I thought this was a wonderful anthology, mostly filled with healthy, positive ideas, as well as key information. These essays and stories tackle fatness, disability (both invisible and visible), sexuality, being transgender, menstruation, and even more scientific stuff about sleep, mental health, and various medical diagnoses. Unfortunately, I did find that there were some parts that were basically saying "it's okay to be fatter as long as you're still healthy" which is... yikes. Tyra Banks also had multiple pieces of writing in this, and I was very confused as to why. I also found there to be a lot of flip-flopping between binary gender language and trans inclusive language, which annoyed me. But overall, I enjoyed this read quite a bit. Even as someone who prides herself on knowing a lot about bodies and the different experiences people can have in them, I still found myself enlightened and learning a lot from this book. I would definitely recommend you pick this up if you're at all interested!

The publisher actually reached out to me to be a part of the Blog Tour for this, so I'm going to keep this review short and sweet. If you're interested in my more in-depth thoughts, stay tuned for my posts on August 12th!

Body Talk helpfully combines essays from favorite YA authors (Anna-Marie Mclemore, Julie Murphy, Lilliam Rivera) with FAQ sections to help young readers understand body-related terms, policies, and information. The personal narratives in this book are engaging, giving young readers many opportunities to identify with stories, as well as to expand their perspectives. Some topics, like size, disability, and body image receive quite a bit of attention, while others, like racialization, receive less emphasis. The authors who are included do span a diverse array of ethnicities, genders, and sexualities, though. The book also includes quite a bit of cool artwork that celebrates different kinds of bodies.

The one big disappointment for me was the inclusion of several essays by Tyra Banks. She has received a lot of valuable criticism for her show, America’s Next Top Model, in which she made fun of contestants’ bodies and speech, exoticized them based on perceived racial characteristics, and even made girls take photographs in blackface. These problems detract from Tyra’s credibility as a voice for body-positivity, and undermine her as a trustworthy source of guidance for young people.

Overall, this book isn’t really as radical as its title might lead readers to expect, but it is a good introduction to body diversity for young readers.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved reading this collection! I think the world is becoming increasingly aware of body positivity but, as mentioned in the book, it's more than about weight - it's about everything our bodies can do/represent. This book has made me more aware of how I can be an ally as well as taught me certain tools to become more confident in the body I am currently in.

I would recommend this book to anybody as it's not only important but also the kind of book you can read one chapter of and then put down to digest. It's also one you can read a chapter or two in between other tasks!

Editor Kelly Jensen writes in her introduction, “Bodies aren’t simply biological. They are radical tools. They are physical and political. They impact our mental well-being as much as they impact our social roles.” This empowering collection of essays from YA authors, actors, activists, and medical professionals breathes life into her words. The contributors start necessary conversations about how we challenge the accepted narrative about “normal” and “acceptable” and “beautiful.”

Engaging, inclusive, thought-provoking, essential.

Thanks to Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for the electronic arc.

A great collections of essays covering a wide variety of experiences with disability and body image. Though some of the essays are not as great (like the latter two of Tyra Banks') and the sections feel disjointed, most of the writing is top-notch and sure to make readers feel less alone or learn something new about the experiences of others'.

I loved this anthology. So many young adults suffer from body insecurity, and this collection of stories definitely touches on so many of those issues in a way that is relatable and accessible. This would be a great tool to use in the classroom with body image.

The wide array of topics covered really helps the universal appeal of this book. It's timely and needed in our world!

This was a really good read, I loved how diverse and how informative it was. Body Talk contains different essays, comics, short stories about how different and amazing our bodies are. It celebrates body diversity and most importantly you get to read from the point of view of people that are living with being fat, disabled, suffering from an eating disorder, etc. It was really powerful and I believe that it sends a very important message especially for teenagers. I also really enjoyed the little FAQ section after some of the stories because it answered some questions that teenagers may have and are afraid of asking. I truly believe this book should be read by every single teenager.

Kelly Jensen has done it again. She has put together another fantastic read. This book explores the ways in which our bodies are our bodies, from the god, the bad and the ugly. Readers will put this down feeling that their bodies are unique to who they are and glorious in all their scars, body hair and birthmarks.

“Body talk” contains several essays about the body in the widest sense of the word. It explores topics such as gender, disability, body image and more. I found quite a few of those essays enlightening as they addressed issues that are often underrepresented in modern media. An important read for everyone who has a body or interacts with people who do

In editor Kelly Jensen's third YA nonfiction anthology, we see how essayists have struggled with body positivity from things we can see on the outside like scars to invisible things on the inside like chronic illnesses. Like in Jensen's previous anthologies, she has sent out her batsignal and gotten the best of YA authors, advocates, athletes, and even supermodel Tyra Banks to contribute. Put this highly important and Own Voices book in your teens' hands as soon as it comes out in August.

"Body Talk" is a strong compilation of first-person essays for young people about bodies, all different kinds of bodies. Writers tell stories of having bodies that are disabled, fat, or unconventional in other, embarrassing-to-teenagers ways. The first-person narrative voice is so effective in helping readers to identify with the discomfort and to imagine the journey towards acceptance and celebration.

The essays themselves would have made this book a must-have for any teen book list. But the FAQs offering simple and practical facts make it even more important.

This is the second title I've read edited by Kelly Jensen. I, too, enjoyed (Don't) Call Me Crazy.

This is a great compilation of stories related to our bodies and all of its complexities. Some of the stories are poignant, some are humorous, all of them deliver insightful perspectives from a diverse cross-section of authors. I like the layout of the book with its bright graphics and Q&A after each category's section. I think there is something here for everyone: teen and adult, alike.

Body Talk is an excellent addition to a teen library. The overall theme is about body posititivity, but not in the typical way. This book contains essays from all genders that address how one can love their body though disability, sexuality, reproductive health, and run-of-the mill appearance issues. I love that this book has FAQs and "Do You Know About?" sections, as well as lists of real life role models that can be used to further explore and celebrate each topic. The essays are honest and real, something that teens don't get enough of in social media and advertising. Even though this book is intended for teens and young adults, I think that adults can also appreciate the essays in this book; it would be a great parent/guardian book to read to learn how to broach sensitive topics that may cause embarrassment in many households and can be used to teach awareness, sensitivity, and empathy.