What do you think?
Rate this book
Zero
Kas fights to conceal her dangerous secret.
Kas has everything a teenager could possibly want. Away from home for the first time, and attending a prestigious art school, she makes friends with a model and aspiring actress, Marin, and meets Jacob, a handsome young musician. Her future is bright and promising. But Kas is hiding a secret_a secret so dangerous that it threatens to destroy not only her friendships, but also her own future.
Diane Tullson has written a powerful, coming-of-age novel about eating disorders, and of the vulnerable teenager who fights to conceal her secret from her friends. Zero is a realistic portrayal of a very subtle disease that challenges readers to figure out just when they should have recognized thesymptoms of anorexia and bulimia.
The novel includes an afterword that outlines the warning signs of anorexia and bulimia, as well as the common misconceptions about the victims of eating disorders.
- GenresYoung AdultFiction
Library Binding
First published October 1, 2006
About the author
Diane Tullson
15 books9 followersDiane Tullson is a professional writer. She has published several books for young adults and written for magazines such as Canadian Living and Westworld. She has an MFA in Creative Writing, BA in English Literature, and has studied journalism and editing. Diane Tullson lives with her family near Vancouver, BC.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 18, 2026
Rating: 2.5
Talented teenage Kas (pronounced Kaz), a budding visual artist, gets the opportunity of a lifetime (due to another student’s misfortune—leukaemia): she is given a much coveted place at an elite arts high school in the small town of Whitchurch, a few hours north of her family’s home. Boarding with a professional couple, the Greens, whom the reader never sees and whom Tullson never shows her protagonist interacting with, Kas soon falls in love with Jacob, a music student at the school who also rents a room in the same house.
From the start, Tullson presents Kas as obsessively preoccupied with her body. She’s perpetually assessing herself, particularly her buttocks, in mirrors and other reflective surfaces. The teenager also has a punishing exercise schedule and pushes herself to run in snowy weather and below-zero temperatures.
Kas quickly forms a friendship with Marin, an attractive self-absorbed performing arts student with a stereotypically overbearing stage mother who monitors the girl’s diet, among other things. Initially at least, the reader is led to believe that Marin is anorexic, as she appears to live on Diet Pepsi and smokes more than she eats. On day one, she warns her new friend off the lard-laden school cafeteria food and one morning chides Kas for having eaten multiple slices of cinnamon toast with Jacob the previous evening.
Kas’s spiral into full-blown anorexia and bulimia is somewhat credibly presented. Tullson shows her protagonist to be rigid, perfectionistic, and highly vulnerable to criticism. There’s some rather sophisticated writing for a young adult audience about Kas’s divided self and her desire to disappear—i.e., become the Zero (as in Size Zero) of the title—which I can’t imagine target readers actually comprehending. Furthermore, the plot takes what seemed to me to be a bizarre and implausible turn when Kas, eventually emaciated and starving, takes a train out of Whitchurch into the city in order to eat unobserved by those who know her. She apparently endures a sexual assault in a car with a very slimy guy, but there’s little run up to the scene. I had no idea how she ended up in this situation or why it was even thrown into the book. Had Kas been trying to obtain money to purchase a meal? It made no sense. The girl, after all, has been given a bank debit card by her father.
Another weird series of events revolves around Kas stealing a canister of cremated remains from the local animal shelter where Jacob works. She subsequently “artistically” smears ashes on a sketch she’s working on and even applies ashes to her own face. Evidently, this is a sign of how severely psychiatrically disturbed she is. I found the inclusion of this segment mystifying and macabre.
After this, things really go south for the protagonist: her relationship with Jacob roars to a melodramatic end and there are multiple scenes of Kas fainting, gorging on food, forcing herself to vomit, using laxatives, and more. Realistic this may be, but it sure isn’t pleasant reading.
The novel’s conclusion is predictable. Kas’s parents retrieve her and she’s put into treatment. A few weeks later, when the girl revisits Whitchurch for Marin’s performance in the school production of Macbeth, friends notice that she is still losing weight and that she continues to shun food. Both teachers and students express shame at not having earlier recognized the girl’s struggle.
There’s always a danger that books such as this will appeal only to readers with tendencies to anorexia and bulimia, and—more than that—just add fuel to the fire simmering within young people with incipient eating disorders.
Overall, I wasn’t impressed with Tullson’s novel, which I generally found over-the-top. I acknowledge that its author has included an informative afterword about eating disorders, but that’s certainly not enough for me to recommend the novel.
Talented teenage Kas (pronounced Kaz), a budding visual artist, gets the opportunity of a lifetime (due to another student’s misfortune—leukaemia): she is given a much coveted place at an elite arts high school in the small town of Whitchurch, a few hours north of her family’s home. Boarding with a professional couple, the Greens, whom the reader never sees and whom Tullson never shows her protagonist interacting with, Kas soon falls in love with Jacob, a music student at the school who also rents a room in the same house.
From the start, Tullson presents Kas as obsessively preoccupied with her body. She’s perpetually assessing herself, particularly her buttocks, in mirrors and other reflective surfaces. The teenager also has a punishing exercise schedule and pushes herself to run in snowy weather and below-zero temperatures.
Kas quickly forms a friendship with Marin, an attractive self-absorbed performing arts student with a stereotypically overbearing stage mother who monitors the girl’s diet, among other things. Initially at least, the reader is led to believe that Marin is anorexic, as she appears to live on Diet Pepsi and smokes more than she eats. On day one, she warns her new friend off the lard-laden school cafeteria food and one morning chides Kas for having eaten multiple slices of cinnamon toast with Jacob the previous evening.
Kas’s spiral into full-blown anorexia and bulimia is somewhat credibly presented. Tullson shows her protagonist to be rigid, perfectionistic, and highly vulnerable to criticism. There’s some rather sophisticated writing for a young adult audience about Kas’s divided self and her desire to disappear—i.e., become the Zero (as in Size Zero) of the title—which I can’t imagine target readers actually comprehending. Furthermore, the plot takes what seemed to me to be a bizarre and implausible turn when Kas, eventually emaciated and starving, takes a train out of Whitchurch into the city in order to eat unobserved by those who know her. She apparently endures a sexual assault in a car with a very slimy guy, but there’s little run up to the scene. I had no idea how she ended up in this situation or why it was even thrown into the book. Had Kas been trying to obtain money to purchase a meal? It made no sense. The girl, after all, has been given a bank debit card by her father.
Another weird series of events revolves around Kas stealing a canister of cremated remains from the local animal shelter where Jacob works. She subsequently “artistically” smears ashes on a sketch she’s working on and even applies ashes to her own face. Evidently, this is a sign of how severely psychiatrically disturbed she is. I found the inclusion of this segment mystifying and macabre.
After this, things really go south for the protagonist: her relationship with Jacob roars to a melodramatic end and there are multiple scenes of Kas fainting, gorging on food, forcing herself to vomit, using laxatives, and more. Realistic this may be, but it sure isn’t pleasant reading.
The novel’s conclusion is predictable. Kas’s parents retrieve her and she’s put into treatment. A few weeks later, when the girl revisits Whitchurch for Marin’s performance in the school production of Macbeth, friends notice that she is still losing weight and that she continues to shun food. Both teachers and students express shame at not having earlier recognized the girl’s struggle.
There’s always a danger that books such as this will appeal only to readers with tendencies to anorexia and bulimia, and—more than that—just add fuel to the fire simmering within young people with incipient eating disorders.
Overall, I wasn’t impressed with Tullson’s novel, which I generally found over-the-top. I acknowledge that its author has included an informative afterword about eating disorders, but that’s certainly not enough for me to recommend the novel.
November 5, 2018
This book kind of just felt like something you would read in high school health class. Very after school special. While the eating disorder aspect felt authentic I felt like I didn't really get to know Kaz outside of her disorder so it was hard to be super invested. The romance felt pretty insta-love and Kaz was borderline Mary Sue (such an art prodigy omg!)
There were 3 wtf parts of this book for me. When Kaz stole animal ashes from the shelter I was like "why tho?" I guess we were supposed to be like "oh what an artistic soul" but I was just like "that's gross and disrespectful." Second moment was when she abruptly was raped and the rapist gave her some meth. That just felt out of nowhere. I guess it was supposed to show her self loathing but I felt like there wasn't enough attention given to the fact that she was raped. It was kind of just shrugged off. Finally, the ending scene where Marin cleaned off Kaz by spitting up water on her. Maybe I'm just ignorant but is that really that much more effective than plain old water?? It just seemed unnecessary.
The story outside of the parts about having an eating disorder didn't amount to much. The characters weren't exactly flat but not super memorable either. I did appreciate the extra info at the end and the disclaimers for people who are actually suffering. I hope this book helps teens who read it. For me, it was just something I've already seen and didn't really bring anything new to the table.
There were 3 wtf parts of this book for me. When Kaz stole animal ashes from the shelter I was like "why tho?" I guess we were supposed to be like "oh what an artistic soul" but I was just like "that's gross and disrespectful." Second moment was when she abruptly was raped and the rapist gave her some meth. That just felt out of nowhere. I guess it was supposed to show her self loathing but I felt like there wasn't enough attention given to the fact that she was raped. It was kind of just shrugged off. Finally, the ending scene where Marin cleaned off Kaz by spitting up water on her. Maybe I'm just ignorant but is that really that much more effective than plain old water?? It just seemed unnecessary.
The story outside of the parts about having an eating disorder didn't amount to much. The characters weren't exactly flat but not super memorable either. I did appreciate the extra info at the end and the disclaimers for people who are actually suffering. I hope this book helps teens who read it. For me, it was just something I've already seen and didn't really bring anything new to the table.
October 8, 2024
This book is only receiving 2 stars because the ending of the story was slightly engaging. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was a complete miss for me. There was very little plot development, character development, and the language lacked variety.
September 12, 2016
I’m going to talk about the book called “ZERO” written by Diane Tullson. To begin with, this book is mainly deal with the eating disorder.
Kas is the girl who is gifted at art however she thinks that she is not talented at all. She wants to be perfect because her goal is to be an artist. Her mom says “You’re incredibly gifted. Exceptionally driven. I have no doubt you can be what you want to be” (page 90). This make me feel that she wants to be the perfect person however she need to recognize that there is no perfect person in the world. I think that she is a talented person so if she tries to think very positively, she can overcome the bad feeling that she is not good at art. Through this book, it reminds me that whether talented or not, most of the people had thought they are not good at something. I’m not gifted in music so I always think negatively that I’m singing very badly and I can’t play any instruments very well.
Kas is the girl who is having an eating disorder. She always eats the low calorie food and refuse to eat the food that contains fat. She is not satisfying although she loses the weight. She is just keep doing the diet. People say that she is a person who is having an eating disorder however she doesn’t agree. I think this is the problem for both girl and boy but girl has more problems than boys because the girls want to be thin like a model. Although their weights are average, they think that they are fat. They start to refuse eating the food and make them to starve. I understand that the girls want to be thin but I think it is also fine to have average weight but not fat. From the internet news, I heard that many stars are starving because they think that they are fat. However, I think this is because the people are thinking that the star should be thin. Some people are commenting on the star’s photo that is published in internet. The people are criticizing to the stars that they are not thin. From that, the stars continue to do the diet with nonstop.
I think this book is okay... If you are interested in eating disorder, you can try to read this.
Kas is the girl who is gifted at art however she thinks that she is not talented at all. She wants to be perfect because her goal is to be an artist. Her mom says “You’re incredibly gifted. Exceptionally driven. I have no doubt you can be what you want to be” (page 90). This make me feel that she wants to be the perfect person however she need to recognize that there is no perfect person in the world. I think that she is a talented person so if she tries to think very positively, she can overcome the bad feeling that she is not good at art. Through this book, it reminds me that whether talented or not, most of the people had thought they are not good at something. I’m not gifted in music so I always think negatively that I’m singing very badly and I can’t play any instruments very well.
Kas is the girl who is having an eating disorder. She always eats the low calorie food and refuse to eat the food that contains fat. She is not satisfying although she loses the weight. She is just keep doing the diet. People say that she is a person who is having an eating disorder however she doesn’t agree. I think this is the problem for both girl and boy but girl has more problems than boys because the girls want to be thin like a model. Although their weights are average, they think that they are fat. They start to refuse eating the food and make them to starve. I understand that the girls want to be thin but I think it is also fine to have average weight but not fat. From the internet news, I heard that many stars are starving because they think that they are fat. However, I think this is because the people are thinking that the star should be thin. Some people are commenting on the star’s photo that is published in internet. The people are criticizing to the stars that they are not thin. From that, the stars continue to do the diet with nonstop.
I think this book is okay... If you are interested in eating disorder, you can try to read this.
Read
January 30, 2015Diane Tullson is a known writer for hers books dedicated to teen’s reader such as the Edge and Red sea. Her next hit story Zero, where a girl name Kas got accepted into a prestigious high school of the arts and fate is welcoming her, to move into a small town where there’s no secrets hidden from one another. People are amazed at how Kas is such a perfect child and talented artist. But the thing is, Kas seem to being running away from her past. What happened when her pass caught up with her? Is she really who everyone thinks she is? What happened when the school threatens her of the thought of to call her parents up? What is she hiding from? Someone who so perfect what could possibly be a huge threat to her life? She has everything anyone could want she beautiful, smart, talented, has wonderfully friends and family who cares for her. Plus the loveliest boyfriend anyone can ask for. Will he be able to cure her of her wounds and scars stopping her from filling her dream and future?
This book puts you in a daze of deep thought of life, “I’m realistic. If I can’t deliver, then why try?” it puts you in thought of why always look down on yourself, why always compare yourself to the world and why so insecure? “Everything you touch will turn to dirt.” Every word of this story has meaning behind it. Why must your pain be for someone else happiness and approved. This story makes you open up your mind more and to be more observed and care for people in your life that you treasure for because you can never understand them 100% and know what the person is really going through unless your them.
Zero really know how to test your patient I am not a patient person but surprisingly this book made me wait though it all. It’s slow at the beginning but it all worth it at the end this helps by setting the emoition high, adjusting to the characters and the environment. When the climax comes it hits you hard and strong leaves you breathe taking. Leaving you with I need to reflect on my life and enjoying such a nice meaningful short story.
This book puts you in a daze of deep thought of life, “I’m realistic. If I can’t deliver, then why try?” it puts you in thought of why always look down on yourself, why always compare yourself to the world and why so insecure? “Everything you touch will turn to dirt.” Every word of this story has meaning behind it. Why must your pain be for someone else happiness and approved. This story makes you open up your mind more and to be more observed and care for people in your life that you treasure for because you can never understand them 100% and know what the person is really going through unless your them.
Zero really know how to test your patient I am not a patient person but surprisingly this book made me wait though it all. It’s slow at the beginning but it all worth it at the end this helps by setting the emoition high, adjusting to the characters and the environment. When the climax comes it hits you hard and strong leaves you breathe taking. Leaving you with I need to reflect on my life and enjoying such a nice meaningful short story.
February 13, 2016
Kas is a gifted artist who has been accepted into the exclusive Whitchurch School of the Arts. She boards with a local family as does budding musician, Jacob. Kas quickly makes friends with Marin, a beautiful young actress, and as a romance begins with Jacob it would seem that Kas' life is just about perfect. Kas is harboring a dark secret; she is both anorexic and bulemic. Her self-worth is the "zero" in the title and although the novel begins with Kas feeling fairly happy and content her inner turmoil soon takes over as she not only endangers her health and her very life, but her relationships with her two friends. She is spiraling out of control and no one seems to see that Kas is slowly killing herself.
This young adult novel is a very quick read and the author has added great information at the end detailing eating disorders, how to recognize them and how to help those who are suffering. Kas' story is well done except I don't feel that there is much depth to her background except that she has always wanted to be perfect.
This young adult novel is a very quick read and the author has added great information at the end detailing eating disorders, how to recognize them and how to help those who are suffering. Kas' story is well done except I don't feel that there is much depth to her background except that she has always wanted to be perfect.
January 23, 2014
When we talk about plot, Zero deserves 4 stars. But description, plot-twist, and all the interesting stuff in-between? An unfortunate 2 stars.
This book sung a depressing truth about eating disorders, and the progression was sad but true, which made this book have a wonderful story. But there were no twists, barely any description, and only fewer and fewer lines of dialogue as the book came to close.
I would LOVE this to become a movie, but I don't think it was written very well.
This book sung a depressing truth about eating disorders, and the progression was sad but true, which made this book have a wonderful story. But there were no twists, barely any description, and only fewer and fewer lines of dialogue as the book came to close.
I would LOVE this to become a movie, but I don't think it was written very well.
July 20, 2012
Not a bad anorexia intro novel, if you're in middle school. I found the whole book well-structured, but too simplistic for a high-school-aged character. I don't know, there was just something missing. It had all the right ingredients - compelling side plots, very specific restriction/binge/purge scenarios, and a particularly idealistic/sweet spooning scene - but like its title, it seemed empty underneath.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews