**A girl tumbles into a downward spiral when a romantic encounter turns violent in this heartwrenching novel from the author of *Cracked*.**
Dell is used to disappointment. Ever since her dad left, it’s been one let down after another. But no one—not even her best friend—understands all the pain she’s going through. So Dell hides behind self-deprecating jokes and forced smiles.
Then the one person she trusts betrays her. Dell is beyond devastated. Without anyone to turn to for comfort, her depression and self-loathing spin out of control. But just how far will she go to make all the heartbreak and the name-calling stop?
**
### From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Dell is overweight, and she eats to deal with a series of letdowns, beginning when her father left the family. No one understands the pain she harbors, not even her best friend. She hides behind her weight and self-deprecating jokes. Her classmates even get her to participate in sumo poses and to moo for them on demand. The bullying turns vicious at a party; she drinks too much and is raped by one of the bullies, on whom she happens to have had a crush. She has no one to turn to, and rumors start that she attacked him. Dell's life is starting to get even more hellish and she is running on empty. Dell is a well-drawn character, and her loneliness and hurt are palpable. Teens will be sucked into her downward spiral and will start to wonder if her situation is ever going to get better. Empty will hit home hard with teens who have been or are being tormented and should shed some light on how painful and destructive bullying is to its victims.-Shannon Seglin, formerly at Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
### From Booklist
Dell’s weight has ballooned since her father abandoned the family. Now, as she tops the scales at 286 pounds, food has become her antidote to the emptiness that sucks at her. To add to Dell’s grief, her devastated mother is addicted to pills, and Dell’s longtime best friend, Cara, longs for acceptance into the thin, beautiful, popular crowd, who target Dell with increasingly vicious abuse. Feeling invisible and alone, Dell makes a choice that will end the abuse forever. Like Walton’s debut novel, Cracked (2012), this novel wades fearlessly into the desperate inner lives of abused teens. Although the alienation experienced by overweight teenagers has been the topic of many young adult novels—K. L. Going’s Fat Kid Rules the World (2003), Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Diary of a Witness (2009), and Erin Jade Lange’s Butter (2012), among many others—Walker zeros in on every fluctuation of Dell’s emotional ride. Readers will feel Dell’s pain acutely in this emotionally wrenching novel, which deals with serious issues such as rape, drug use, and suicide. Grades 9-12. --Diane Colson
Description:
**A girl tumbles into a downward spiral when a romantic encounter turns violent in this heartwrenching novel from the author of *Cracked*.** Dell is used to disappointment. Ever since her dad left, it’s been one let down after another. But no one—not even her best friend—understands all the pain she’s going through. So Dell hides behind self-deprecating jokes and forced smiles. Then the one person she trusts betrays her. Dell is beyond devastated. Without anyone to turn to for comfort, her depression and self-loathing spin out of control. But just how far will she go to make all the heartbreak and the name-calling stop? ** ### From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Dell is overweight, and she eats to deal with a series of letdowns, beginning when her father left the family. No one understands the pain she harbors, not even her best friend. She hides behind her weight and self-deprecating jokes. Her classmates even get her to participate in sumo poses and to moo for them on demand. The bullying turns vicious at a party; she drinks too much and is raped by one of the bullies, on whom she happens to have had a crush. She has no one to turn to, and rumors start that she attacked him. Dell's life is starting to get even more hellish and she is running on empty. Dell is a well-drawn character, and her loneliness and hurt are palpable. Teens will be sucked into her downward spiral and will start to wonder if her situation is ever going to get better. Empty will hit home hard with teens who have been or are being tormented and should shed some light on how painful and destructive bullying is to its victims.-Shannon Seglin, formerly at Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. ### From Booklist Dell’s weight has ballooned since her father abandoned the family. Now, as she tops the scales at 286 pounds, food has become her antidote to the emptiness that sucks at her. To add to Dell’s grief, her devastated mother is addicted to pills, and Dell’s longtime best friend, Cara, longs for acceptance into the thin, beautiful, popular crowd, who target Dell with increasingly vicious abuse. Feeling invisible and alone, Dell makes a choice that will end the abuse forever. Like Walton’s debut novel, Cracked (2012), this novel wades fearlessly into the desperate inner lives of abused teens. Although the alienation experienced by overweight teenagers has been the topic of many young adult novels—K. L. Going’s Fat Kid Rules the World (2003), Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Diary of a Witness (2009), and Erin Jade Lange’s Butter (2012), among many others—Walker zeros in on every fluctuation of Dell’s emotional ride. Readers will feel Dell’s pain acutely in this emotionally wrenching novel, which deals with serious issues such as rape, drug use, and suicide. Grades 9-12. --Diane Colson