A beautiful collection of stories from a diverse collection of voices. Each author and each story took a very different angle on living life as a fat person. I hope we get more body positive literature in the YA space soon!

I reviewed this book for School Library Journal:
Newbould’s anthology is a feminist take on intersectional body diversity and fat acceptance. The collection includes a foreword by Aubrey Gordon, creator of the Your Fat Friend site and podcast, and stories by Nafiza Azad, Chris Baron, Sheena Boekweg, Linda Camacho, Kelly deVos, Alex Gino, Claire Kann, Amanda Lovelace, Hillary Monahan, Cassandra Newbould, Francina Simone, Rebecca Sky, Monique Gray Smith, Renée Watson, Catherine Adel West, and Jennifer Yen. This abundantly inclusive compilation includes short stories of fat girls and boys, as well as fat nonbinary teens with straight, gay, bi, pan, ace characters who are Black, Indian, Muslim, Chinese, and more.
In addition to the representation listed above, the stories feature a cross section of genres and topics featuring fat characters. Some of the themes are reflective, tackling finding your voice with “well meaning” family members when they may not know how to show love the way it is needed. Others are empowering in a variety of ways, centering fat characters in settings including prom shopping, outer space, a Little Mermaid retelling under the sea, hockey arena, the beach, softball field, and a “Groundhog Day” type scenario. The common thread throughout these varied stories is that fat characters are centered. They are not side characters, they are the main event, bold and bright, wanting to be SEEN. In Gordon’s masterful foreword, she concludes, “Telling stories like the ones in this collection- and stories like yours- is part of how we change the world around us. It’s also how we find each other, find solidarity and connection in a world that makes that harder that it needs to be.” VERDICT: These characters should be seen in all collections- recommended universally for both school and public libraries.

*2.75 stars rounded up

The introduction starts of with eye opening, inspiring, and profound quotes that immediately pulled me into the book and made me eager to read the stories. I grew up in a world where people around me would make fatphobic remarks and only in my late teens was I able to release how wrong they are. This book is letting me see into another type of life and body that I haven’t experienced and for that I am grateful. It’s nice to finally read something that accepts every body as normal and has inspiring stories that uplift plus sized people. However, that being said, I unfortunately was not a fan of all the stories in this collection and some dealt with so much fatphobia that a lot of the stories felt less positive and uplifting than what I thought this collection would be.

I’ll give a mini review and star rating for each story in this collection.

Guilt Trip: 3 stars. This is a light, cheesy story that focuses on family drama and music/bands.

Shatter: 3 stars. Another very light story that was sweet yet surprisingly confusing at the same time. It was somewhat of a time loop story but I couldn’t exactly describe the logistics of how the world or time loop works as that was a bit confusing to me.

Prom Queers: 3 stars. This one had non-binary and demiromantic rep in it, which I really appreciate. It’s really cute and it talks a lot about the struggles of finding clothes that fit you as a fat person and that non-binary people feel comfortable in. An eye opening read that had a very heartwarming ending.

Dupatta Diaries: 3 stars. This one is a little less uplifting than the other stories. It talks a lot about diets, body shaming, and fatphobia. The way that these topics are presented may be triggering to some people. This story made me so sad. It made me understand the importance of clothing more and specifically clothing that fits all body types, but it saddened me that people hate their bodies so much and that other people outright express their hatred for fat people. I know that this is a fictional story, but unfortunately stories like this one happen all the time in real life and I wish there was more I could do to help people realize that being fat is not the same thing as being unhealthy or unworthy of love.

Food is Love: 3 stars. Another one that may be triggering to some people as it deals with complicated relationships with food, fatphobia, and diets. It also deals with memory loss in a very respectful and gentle way.

Orion’s Star: 4 stars. A moving story about rekindling broken relationships, family problems, and grief.

Weightless: 4 stars. Science fiction stories set in space are really hard to make into a short story. There’s so much complex world building that they work better as novels. This one was great for a science fiction short story, but I wish it would’ve been a full novel instead of just a short story. I loved the characters and the light romance but since the story was so short, it was hard to fully understand the world building. There was mentions of calorie counting and disordered eating in this story that could be triggering to some people.

Outside Pitch: 3 stars. An interesting mix of cat fishing, baseball, clowns, and movies that surprisingly works well together and is really sweet.

Filling the Net: 4 stars. This one was a super sweet one that revolves around hockey and reminds me a lot of the movie “She’s the Man.”

A Perfect Fit: 5 stars. Though this one had fatphobia in it, it was also very sweet and uplifting. The main character reclaimed her own beauty and it was so beautiful.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: 3 stars. This story dealt with some important topics like the Australia wildfires and how BMI isn’t an accurate measure of health. There were just some characters that got too much on my nerves in this story.

Letters to Charlie Brown: 2 stars. This story is exactly as the title suggests - a teen writing to Charlie Brown as she struggles with school, moving, boys, and other typical teenage issues. I didn’t like the main character much. She was very annoying to me and the way that she referred to a teen who she thought was struggling mentally was not okay.

love spells & lavender lattes: 1 star. To start off with, I’m not a huge fan of the writing style. Using no capitols, using “&” instead of “and,” and using silly curses that are supposed to emphasize the fantasy elements of the story proceeded to annoy me throughout the course of this story. And secondly and most importantly… I hated all the characters, especially the main character. She’s such a typical annoying fantasy character that I despise. She tries so hard to not be like other girls and she epically fails at that. She’s so full of herself. She’s like a certain type of character that I’ve seen across countless fantasy stories that I always despise. I didn't know a short story could annoy me this much until I read this one…

Breathe You In: 3 stars. This was like a disturbing Little Mermaid fanfiction and I don’t know how to feel about it-

Unpleasant Surprises: 1 star. I went through a similar situation with a friend when I was younger so this story brought back too many memories and depressed feelings that I’ve been trying to suppress for years. The ending wasn’t even rewarding. I got nothing out of this story.

Letting Go: 2 stars. This story didn’t really do much for me and it confuses me. Since when do people wear swimsuits to Oregon beaches and go swimming without fear of sneaker waves coming to get you??

I was very excited to receive an e-galley of this book! The premise of "living fabulously fat" drew me in immediately as someone who is fat and was fat during childhood and teen years. In theory, this was the book that younger me needed. While some of the stories delivered on the premise of being who you are and loving yourself as you are, many of the stories were rooted in fatphobia. Of course, most fat people experience this in their lifetime, especially childhood, myself included, but rarely did I feel like the characters were living fabulously fat and being true to themselves in that way. Most of the main characters didn't like/accept themselves until the very end of the story. Again, not surprising given the fatphobia that exists in the world, but those stories felt different from the premise.

That said, I'm very glad I was able to read these stories. I think this collection will help young readers feel less alone, even if the messages aren't all as positive/strong as I'd like. To even be represented in this way is a huge step up from when I was in high school, so I'm grateful to these writers, editor, and publisher for putting this anthology out in the world. Also, the writing is strong in all of the stories, and you can tell each writer brought a piece of themselves to their stories, making them feel special. My favorite story was Weightless by Sheena Boekweg, Other favorites were Breathe You In by Hillary Monahan and Dupatta Diaries Nafiza Azad.

With a wide range of intersectional identities and genres, this anthology has something for everyone. "Weightless," Sheena Boekweg's contribution, particularly shines. Overall, the stories are fairly simplistic in their feel-good quality, best suited for younger YA readers.

I really, really hate to write this review. I had so many high hopes for this anthology, and I've been excited for it since it was announced on twitter. But unfortunately, it was not what I expected at all. I think my number one problem is just how much fatphobia is in here. I don't want to dismiss the authors' experiences, especially since I've dealt with fatphobia my whole life. But nearly every single story was about people feeling shamed for who they are, and then at the last moment, magically finding some brief happiness. I was excited for this anthology because I thought it would be different from the normal stories we see when fat people are rarely featured, but I was really disappointed. Additionally, the stories themselves felt weirdly preachy about fatphobia being wrong, etc. I was expecting more stories in where the focus of the story isn't the main character's weight. I get that it's a hard line to walk, between fully focusing on a character's weight and ignoring it, but every single story seemed to solely revolve around body shame until the very end. I wish I could have enjoyed this anthology more, but it just made me disappointed.

I was already emotional when I read the introduction of this anthology. I should have taken that as a sign that this book will truly have an impact on me, not just as a reader but also as a fat person myself.

Every Body Shines managed to hurt me and comfort me at the same time. It’s an anthology that spans across various genres, featuring a diverse cast, celebrating body diversity and fat acceptance. Throughout these stories, we see fat people face fatphobia and a lot of it (and please be careful, as it can be jarring). However, we also see them challenge other people and their prejudice, build confidence for themselves, and start to live their lives the way they want it. Reading these different stories was heartbreaking, and moving, and beautiful.

Guilt Trip by Claire Kann – This was really fun and nice! I loved that we see fat people singing, dancing, and being fashionable in this story. I also loved that family, even though not by blood, was highlighted here.

Shatter by Cassandra Newbould – This was really interesting! I love the blend of science fiction and drama, plus it was really symbolic in its own way. The sapphic characters and the subtle sapphic romance were also a nice addition.

Prom Queers by Alex Gino – Oh, this was so beautiful and so precious. I loved the nonbinary rep, and how this story showed how gendered our clothes are (which really shouldn’t be). This also highlighted how hard it is to find clothes that make us look and feel fabulous and we can work on that.

Dupatta Diaries by Nafiza Azad – This one hit hard. This one really hit close to home. It was hard for me to read this story, but at the same time it was necessary and affirming. The way family is our own enemy, the one who berates us the most about our weight.

Food is Love by Chris Baron – Oh, I wanted more of this! I love how food is the main theme here, and how the main character is trying to make new memories and start a new despite not-so-great memories from the past. There was pain in this story, and yet there was also hope.

Orion’s Star by Catherine Adel West – This was really precious. I love how it focused on family relationships and dreams, and how sometimes we have to work and put in an effort to achieve both.

Weightless by Sheena Boekweg – This has to be my favorite in this anthology! This was so cute, and precious, and otherworldly. The character development was awesome, the science fiction and math part was so cool (I can’t believe this made math cool for me!), and the subtle romance made it all fit together. I also loved how this just showed that fat people are more than just their weight, that they deserve to be everywhere they want to be, that their worth and their talent and skills have nothing to do with being fat.

Outside Pitch by Kelly deVos – This one was odd in its own way, but somehow still a very enjoyable and cute read about taking chances.

Filling the Net by Monique Gray Smith – I adored reading this one. Loved that the focus was a family coming together, even after grieving. And that fat, Asian girls also excel in sports so wonderfully.

A Perfect Fit by Jennifer Yen – This was really emotional. And probably hard to read. It’s a story that represents many fat girls and how we’re subjected to fatphobic comments even from our own family. That said, it was great to see the main character grow and overcome each and every unnecessary comment from other people.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire by Rebecca Sky – This was really fun, despite tackling a touchy subject at first. Still, family and sportsmanship were main themes here, which was great!

Letters to Charlie Brown by Francina Simone – This had such a unique writing style and story telling technique. Told through letters to the fictional character, this was an interesting story. One that showed the innocence of the main character, and how she navigated childhood and pre-teens.

Love spells and lavender lattes by Amanda Lovelace – Well, this was interesting as well. The setting can be a bit confusing, but this took me on a small journey of love and magic.

Breathe You In by Hillary Monahan – Oh, this was brilliant! The Little Mermaid retelling with a dark, exciting twist? I loved it!

Unpleasant Surprises by Linda Camacho – This was an interesting one. Love that friendship and family were the main themes, and it also gives us an insight to coping with change and dieting, and more.

Letting Go by Renée Watson – The perfect ending to this anthology. Really short, but the sweetest.

I felt like crying reading this book. I’ve gotten so used to fatphobic remarks and microaggressions that reading about body positivity and seeing fat people celebrate their bodies, felt like an honest-to-god breath of fresh air. Like being cooped up in a very small house for so long and then finally stepping out, moving about, and seeing the sun. That’s how it was for me.

These stories try to show that fat people deserve to be here, that we deserve to take up space, and we do deserve the same respect and kindness. These stories speak of love and life, of friendship and family, and it’s just wonderful to see these different authors get together to write this anthology.

I really love the idea behind this anthology: intersectional stories about being fat and fabulous. Sounds awesome! In practice, I have much more mixed feelings about the collection. Namely that there is a LOT of fat phobia in this book. A lot. From family, from friends, internalized, vicious...and is that often the lived experience of fat people? Yes, to a greater or lesser extent. However, I went into this hoping for more stories about joy and body positivity and falling in love and doing cool things, fewer stories explicitly detailing painful words and experiences. While there were a few (wonderful!) stories that leaned more that direction, the vast majority did not and I wish this had been curated differently.

This book had a nice variety of short stories that spanned many genres and will appeal to a wide audience. The unifying factor of each story being that it had a fat protagonist. These protagonists, as well as many others, are much needed. While certain stories presented situations that were hard to face and quite angering at times, I felt like I was given perspectives that I have not seen before and need to be faced with.. Overall, I liked the premise and style of this collection and think that everyone who reads it will be able to find at least one person they can identify with in some way.

The writing in all of these stories was lovely. I understand what the book is trying to compose. That every BODY is lovely and special and we should be proud of every bit of us. But, to be honest, some of the stories were more traumatic than I was expecting. Reliving some of the comments through stories was tough. I was expecting fat girl/boy/NB joy on every page, but instead, I read about the traumatic experience that shaped them. Yes, it’s a journey to self-acceptance, but that journey is sad and difficult, and heartbreaking at times. That wasn’t all of the stories, though. Some were truly full of joy and excitement and had happy premises throughout. Those left me feeling warm and fuzzy. Some others, not so much. With an anthology, however, there will be something for everyone. Some stories make you think and bring up those tough memories while others transport you to a happy place.

And all of the stories are beautifully written, and everyone loves those.

♥♥ ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ♥♥

CW- fatphobia, death of loved one, car accident
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Every Body Shines is an anthology of sixteen stories that focus on fat teenagers. The stories range in genres from contemporary to sci-fi to fantasy.
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To start this review, I absolutely LOVE the concept of this book. I also loved the range of genres! I was only expecting contemporary and was very pleased by the inclusion of different genres.
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As with all anthologies, I loved some and didn’t really care for others. However, I enjoyed the majority of them!
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The only issue I had with this book was the heavy fatphobia without an inclusion of stories that are not focused solely on the struggles of fat people. I am not an ownvoices reviewer for this book, so I would implore you to check reviews out from ownvoices reviewers. I feel like it could be potentially harmful for teenagers who are given this book. Even though it had good intentions, it might be a good idea to exercise caution when recommending this.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

As I find most short story anthologies, there are some good stories and some not so good ones, but I think that is the beauty of them.

I did skim through several just because I was not relating to the stories much, but the stories I did read I DEVOURED. As a former "fat-kid" who still has some issues with body shape/size I found these to be very relatable and the Own Voices rep was spectacular.

If you are wanting to find an anthology that celebrates the human body for all of its curves and swerves, this is the one.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the e-galley.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I really loved a lot of the stories, but I could see how some of them wouldn't be that uplifting to a teen. I think it is a great collection to show that our bodies are beautiful, no matter what their shape. And I think many teens will find some of the characters relatable. I am just not sure if all of the stories were executed with the right angle. Fat shaming is hard on anyone, there is such a stigma to be thin, and that in turn makes you beautiful. I love that more books are coming out and more models are being shown as curvy or plus size. A good book to have in library collections, but tread lightly when giving to teens.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

I really love the idea behind this anthology: intersectional stories about being fat and fabulous. Sounds awesome! In practice, I have much more mixed feelings about the collection. Namely that there is a LOT of fat phobia in this book. A lot. From family, from friends, internalized, vicious...and is that often the lived experience of fat people? Yes, to a greater or lesser extent. However, I went into this hoping for more stories about joy and body positivity and falling in love and doing cool things, fewer stories explicitly detailing painful words and experiences. While there were a few (wonderful!) stories that leaned more that direction, the vast majority did not and I wish this had been curated differently.

On their own, many of the stories are well executed. But as a fat person reading them all together, it was quite difficult to get through and made me wonder who the audience for this collection is. If it is for fat teens or other fat YA readers, I worry this will collectively do more harm than good given the very high number of potentially triggering scenarios. If it is to educate thin people, the marketing and approach aren't ideal for that either. I am sure that the authors all have good intentions and are reflecting their experiences, but from an editorial standpoint, I think this could have been better. I do appreciate that we get representation of BIPOC, queer, and non-binary characters and authors from a variety of backgrounds. That's great. But please use caution with this book, because while the title makes it sound joyful and uplifting, the reality is often more like walking through a whole lot of darkness to find a light at the end of the tunnel. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.