Please Don't Go

by Katherine Applegate

Zibby Lloyd's food binges and purges have gone on for months. When her bulimia becomes life threatening, she is sent to Hope House, a residence for kids with serious medical problems. Zibby hates it there; as far as she's concerned, her only problem is how to get out!

When Zibby hears she's getting a roommate, she's furious. She's doubly made when Lauren Kent arrives. Lauren is a beautiful, perfect girl Zibby has known her whole life. Only now it looks as if Lauren isn't so perfect; she's anorexic. The two lifelong enemies are united at last—in a plan to escape Hope House. But will the mission that brings them together as friends also endanger their lives?

Genres: Young Adult

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 1992

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.

Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).

She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alder (Feiwel & Friends). With Gennifer Choldenko, she co-authored DOGTOWN and MOUSE AND HIS DOG, illustrated by Wallace West (Feiwel & Friends).

Books for middle-grade readers include HOME OF THE BRAVE (Feiwel & Friends); THE ONE AND ONLY series, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, THE ONE AND ONLY BOB, THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY, and THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY (HarperCollins); the ENDLING trilogy (HarperCollins); CRENSHAW (Feiwel & Friends); WISHTREE (Feiwel & Friends); WILLODEEN (Feiwel & Friends); ODDER (Feiwel & Friends); and the forthcoming POCKET BEAR (Feiwel & Friends).

With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote ANIMORPHS, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide. They also wrote two other series, REMNANTS and EVERWORLD, and a young adult novel, EVE AND ADAM (Feiwel & Friends.)

Katherine’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, and her books have won accolades including the Christopher Medal, the Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street Josette Frank Award, the California Book Award Gold Medal, the Crystal Kite Award, the Green Earth Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award. Many of her works have appeared on state master lists, Best of the Year lists, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.

Katherine lives in Nevada with her husband and assorted pets. She is represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Heirloom Literary and Mary Pender at WME.

Reviews

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, a bit boring though really.

* Zibby is currently staying at a place called 'Hope House', although she prefers to call it 'Hopelss House'. She has a perfect older sister, and a perfect baby brother, but she doesn't know where she fits in, especially because she has bullemia.
* Zibby dreams of chocolate, and hates that she's forced to stay at Hopeless house, then one day, she gets a roommate.
* Her new roommate is a girl called Lauren who she knew when she was a child but hasn't spoken to for years. They form an uneasy truce and begin to try and help each other. (Lauren has anorexia)
* Zibby hates that she can't binge, and Lauren hates that she's forced to eat, and not allowed to exercise as much as she wants to.
* The staff do this exercise where they make the girls put on leotards and have their picture taken (which sounded a bit cruel to me), and then they had to pick their own shape out of a line-up.
* Zibby and Lauren come up with a plan to break out of Hopeless House, they decide to do it on Thanksgiving because there will be a lot of people coming to Hopeless House to see their kids, and they think they might be able to slip away.
* They manage to get out, and Zibby starts binge-eating cookies and chocolate right away, while Lauren is jogging around trying to burn off calories. Eventually, Zibby eats so much she needs to make herself sick, so she goes into some toilets and puts her fingers down her throat. Something is wrong though, and there is blood everywhere, and she passes out.
* Lauren finds her and calls for help, even though she realises she'll get sent back to Hopeless House.
* Both girls decide to actually try to get healthy, and start doing what the staff ask of them.

[Lex]

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