Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls

by Deb Loughead (Editor), Jocelyn Shipley (Editor)

A brash new collection of fifteen original stories about girls who stand against convention, and girls who wish they could. In turn hilarious, edgy, comforting and intense, the collection is about holding back and letting loose, about sex and glamour and common sense. The girls in these stories have to deal with whatever life decides to throw at them. Some approach their challenges in startling ways. The innovative stories are all about taking pride in wearing our bodies just the way they are. Touching on a range of issues from cosmetic surgery and makeup, to body-image and sexuality, these stories challenge stifling mainstream notions of beauty and femininity. Toronto writer and poet Deb Loughead is the author of sixteen books for children and young adults, including Time & Again . Jocelyn Shipley 's books for teens include Getting a Life, Cross My Heart and Seraphina's Circle . She lives in Toronto, Ontario, and on Vancouver Island.

Genres: Short Stories, Young Adult, Canada

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loughead, Deb. And Jocelyn Shipley, eds. 2008. Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls.

I'm not always the biggest fan of short stories. What I love most about reading is finding depth and substance--usually through characterizations, sometimes through literary style, more rarely through unique plotting and pacing. Short stories can sometimes be lacking in these departments. That isn't always the case.

There were moments of brilliance and delight in Cleavage. There were a handful of stories that impressed me. My absolute favorite from this collection is a story entitled "Faceless On the Farm" by Ann Sutherland. The story is a series of emails exchanged between a teen farm girl and an advice columnist (I'm supposing on this detail) from a teen magazine. (Someone we know simply as "diva@vivagirl.mag.com") The girl wants to wear make-up. She wants to feel pretty. Even if her only audience is a bunch of farm animals. Her parents have one excuse after another. But what struck me as so funny was that this "diva" was so clueless about real girls and real life. She's just peddling nonsense. Reading back on what I've written, I am failing to do it justice. There's nothing I can really say now to prove that this one's good...really good. You'll just have to trust me.

My second favorite story was entitled "The Cake Princess" by Mar'ce Merrell. It's a bittersweet story, but I think it has staying power.

While I enjoyed several of the stories, there were others that I was less impressed with. I can't give all stories equal ratings, equal praise. None of the stories were horrid or horrible or a waste of paper. But only a few have staying power--in my opinion--in that the reader will remember them long after the book is closed.

I will add this, however, those "few" good stories may differ for every reader. Some may love this one, while other readers love that one. But chances are you'll find a "few" of your own to love.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

[Kricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

a collection of short stories having to do with body image, particularly boobs, and also mother-daughter relationships. recommended for high school girls and their mommas.

my favorites were the first two: "former juice girl eats world's largest taco" by hunter and "wax world" by warje. in the first, a teen's mother is aghast when she eats an 11 pound taco. it totally cracked me up. in the second, a teen runs out on her first mother-daughter leg-waxing session. smart girl! also worth mentioning is "the puberty theory" by ngan, about the difficulty of being brain-smart but not love-smart. the rest of the stories i read with mild interest, but didn't become attached. that said, i still think the collection covers a range of relevant topics in a refreshing way that urges teen girls to think about how they see this stuff in their own lives.

now, dear publishers, we need to talk about the cover. i know we are not supposed to judge books by theirs, but teens absolutely do and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. this cover would have worked well in 1997 but in 2009 the colors are too many and obnoxious and the fonts are trying way too hard. i have been displaying the heck out of this one and so far i'm the only taker.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty sweet little collection of young adult stories about body issues. The editors picked a nice mix of stories and there was a lot of humour in this collection. I liked how the authors of each story added a blurb after each story to explain how they got their ideas/inspiration for the piece they'd created.

[Cindy Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls. Just the name is edgy and designed to get our attention, and the stories inside live up to the title. In the foreword, editors Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley say that the word cleavage has many meanings. There's the image of the valley between breasts of course, but cleavage also refers to the division of a fertilized ovum from a single cell into a mass of smaller cells. It's what they call the mom factor that shows up in the book. Cleavage also has contradictory meanings. On one hand it means to break away from, on the other it means to hold tightly to.

You'll find stories relating to all the meanings in this delightful book of short stories that's easy to digest and gives a lot to think and talk about. If you can think of an issue for women, it's probably covered in the stories, including attitudes about weight, breast implants, tattoos, body image, make-up, clothes and more. These stories will open the door for moms and daughters to talk about hard-to-bring up subjects that benefit from open discussion.

A short bio of each author, including a note about what inspired her to write her story, is a nice touch that adds extra meaning to each piece. Mother-daughter book clubs with high-school-aged girls will find a lot to like when reading Cleavage.

[Andrea Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cleavage by Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley was a very interesting book. Even though the book has short stories I enjoyed them. I like young adult stories and the way that the girls in the stories have to accept the way they are. Teenagers can relate to some of the stories. The book captured my eye because it talks about tattoos, body image, make-up, clothes and why you should always accept yourself. Even though it talks about sex, I’m old enough to understand and what it says can happen to me in the future.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked some of the stories in this book and some of them were just okay. Most of them deal with body image in some way, which is fine but I wish there had been a little more diversity. Almost all the stories involve girls and their mothers, but not one of them showed a girl's relationship with her father, for example. This would be an interesting book to use for a mother/daughter discussion or to read with a young woman in your life. Grades 7+

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book features my short story "Profanity," which explores the effects of her mother’s pregnancy on teenage Claudia. Here's a quote from the story: "The idea of my mother getting it on with Larry was bad enough. Witnessing their foreplay was even worse. Did I need a bulging reminder of what they did in bed?"

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of stories for (pre) teen girls just entering puberty. Many of the stories deal with breasts or the lack of them, relationships with other girls and boys, both romantic and otherwise, and relationships with parents, especially mothers. Not high on my list of books to recommend to others.

[Three O'Clock Press]

Stories a girl can get a grip on! A brash new collection of fifteen original stories about girls who challenge convention, and girls who wish they could. These young women make usthink about taking pride in wearing our bodies just the way they are.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read. Hard not to be slightly annoyed at the "messages" imbedded within the stories. Can't imagine what a teenage girl would think, to be honest. The stories were ok.