Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies

by Erin Dionne

Walk the runway for all the world to see?
Nope. No way. NEVER.

At least, that's what I thought—until Aunt Doreen secretly entered me in the Miss HuskyPeach pageant for plus-sized girls. I couldn't do it, but I felt too guilty to quit.

There was only one way out...

This is the story of thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris, who used to be perfectly comfortable with her weight. She also used to think nothing would make eighth grade worse than super-popular, super-mean Lively Carson's persistent insults and attempts to steal her best friend. But along came the chance of being crowned a chubby teen queen, and suddenly it was clear: Things could be much worse. So Celeste crafts a plan—she'll sacrifice her chocolate cookie obsession, lose weight, and shrink right out of the competition.

What follows is a series of escapades both hilarious and horrifying, as our heroine tries to hold her head high both on the catwalk and off—and learns to show the world who she is from the inside out.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Romance

243 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2009

About the author

I write books for tweens, teens, and anyone who survived junior high.

Please note: I have changed my review policy. I'll no longer be using the star rating system--I'm an author, not a reviewer or editor, and I'd rather support other authors by not ranking their books. I write honest (brief) reviews for each book I read, so please look to those to find out what I loved.

Reviews

[Bren fall in love with the sea.]

“A little lip gloss goes a long way.”
― Erin Dionne, Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies

EDIT...I realized I rated this and erased rating as this is one I did not finish.


I did a DNF. Sorry but this was way to YA for me. I love YA but this was not a good pick.

It is about a plus size girl who gets a chance to do plus size modeling. But it is also filled with so much about dieting, eating junk food, ETC. It was a little much. I have read this storyline before. Jemima J for one and Socially Awkward for another.

And Never been Kissed. And....I could go on. I rated them all fairly low as well. Maybe I am just not a fan of these types of stories. (Never been kissed..the film is actually quite good.)

My favorite book in this genre is sort of a reverse story. It is about a very THIN girl who GAINS weight due to an illness and is much darker than the above mentioned books. That book if you are interested is called "Life in the fat lane".

This seems a soft and lovable read but just not at all for me.

[Be happy!!! Eat Bread!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

models don't eat chocolate cookies? I wondered why they never smiled, that explains it...

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies was hilarious! Celeste was my everything! I'm sure if I was a die hard oreo fan I'd be in that pageant right beside her. Screw the people at her school for making fun of her just because of her weight. Kids are cruel.

Okay so this pageant if for plus-size models and since she is already made fun of constantly by classmates she really doesn't want them to find out about this. Celeste decides to go on a diet. Oh lord, those things are hard.. and for a kid?!? Ridiculous!

Besides the hangryness from no oreos, Celeste eventually loses one of her best friends to her nemesis. UGH! Girls are so cruel some times. Oh, and the teasing hasn't stopped either. I hated the mean girl bit and all of the bullying towards this one girl. Celeste was the sweetest thing! Who cares if she has a slight obsession with Oreos!?!? Shoot, I don't care. I would've been her best friend for life. Fuck the haters!

In the end, Celeste found out who her true friends were. She also emerged out of this experience as a beautiful butterfly. She became way more confident in who she was as a person. I loved it. I loved her. Yes, she lost weight but it was in a healthy way. Plus, she learned to stand up for herself at such a young age. Honestly, she's my hero for doing all of this in 8th grade. I don't even know what I was doing in that grade but it definitely wasn't that.

[Tahleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably just what I needed right about now. Eighth-grader Celeste, an overweight girl with a love for Oreos, is entered into a plus-size model beauty pageant ("Miss HuskyPeach") by her aunt. She's already made fun of a lot in school, and if anyone found out she was a "fat model" it would be the end of life as she knows it (after all she is in middle school--remember those days?). So as a way out, she decides to lose weight by going on a diet (not easy--no Oreos is tough). Throughout the whole HuskyPeach trial, she also has to go through losing her best friend to her worst enemy at school, plus the constant teasing by Queen Bee Lively. Luckily she finds out who her true friends are.

Not only do we get a great look at middle school life and all its terrors (I forgot how brutal it can be), but we also see how a girl can rise above it and come out on top. An anthem in self-esteem, this book made ME feel better about myself and want to be healthier. I think it's a great thing to show girls how to live a healthy lifestyle but also be proud of who they are, no matter what they look like (or what competitions they are in!). Be happy to be who you are and feel good about yourself!

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one SOLID book. I loved it. 5 stars, hands down. I want to own it, and I will not only allow my girls to read it when they approach Jr. High-age, but I will hand it to them to read!

As far as technical writing goes--this is a tight story. There is no useless information, no fluff. It's often funny, but the humor is seemless within the plot and very natural. The author creates a very rich setting. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that the "bully" was a very 2-dimensional character, but the fact is: I knew people exactly like that in Jr. High. I couldn't believe how many memories from that age came back to me. It was like I was reliving things, and I think that's why I was taken by surprise with this book. I expected it to be a funny book about a silly pageant. And that's what it was at the beginning. And then it all-of-a-sudden wasn't so funny to me anymore, because I remembered feeling hurt in the ways Celeste (main character) was feeling hurt. Then I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading. But it was slightly cathartic and very engaging, and the story kept going at such a great pace, that it didn't make it difficult to keep reading.

The other thing that suprised me was the fact that I was surprised by the way certain things were resolved! I find a lot of books to be somewhat predictable, even if I enjoy them, but this one had me enjoying little turns-of events, in pleasing ways, up until the end. (Not that anything was Earth-shattering; just that the story kept moving even though I thought that the climax was over.)

I think Celeste is a great role-model. She feels "real" to me, and you can see a very subtle and natural change in her as the story moves along. I loved the way she ends up resolving her personal issues, and I wish more people would be that mature (myself included!). I think the author had to walk a fine line on such a big issue as weight, but she did it perfectly, and I can't see how anyone would be offended or think that there was a bad message anywhere in here. Celeste is a good, moral person.

If I could recommend this book to a book club, I would, and as a matter of fact, I think I will.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I began reading this book with excitement. Unfortunately, the excitement didn't last long.

As someone who has struggled with a wide range of food issues; (from starving myself, to binge eating, to emotional eating) for my entire teenage and adult life I was hoping this book would serve as somewhat of an inspiration.

The main character, Celeste, is overweight. This is pointed out by her family wanting her to enter a modelling pageant for chubby girls. Her best friend, Sandra, turns on her very early in the book. Obviously, at this point in the story, I was feeling very sorry for Celeste.

Celeste is also bullied at school, about her weight. Lively is one of the girls doing the bullying. Sandra and Lively become good friends, and Sandra ignores how cruel Lively is being to her "friend", right in front of her.

Celeste decides to try and lose weight so that she will be too thin for the pageant. She originally tries a diet drink, and is, in return, followed around by a woman from the diet drink advertisement for the entire duration of the book.

She also makes the decision to start eating healthier, eating less portions and cutting out cookies... hence the name of the book.

Along her journey, she learns some make up tips, from a stylist she is assigned. Christian the stylist even allows her to do her make up for her final performance. Now, I'm no make up expert but I know people who chose to go into that field have to do an extensive course about it. I think almost anyone, who attempted to do their own make up, knowing nothing and blindly following instructions on how to apply it would fail horribly.

Celeste discovers that Lively has a secret. Lively has been wearing a water bra to school. Celeste aimed a ball at her chest during her PE lesson upon finding this out. After more time elapses, Celeste feels guilty that she has thrown the ball at her. At the end of the book, she discovers Lively has a crush on Geoff, her former best friend's brother. Lively gets shot down by Geoff, and the entire school finds out about it. Celeste relishes in this fact. I didn't like this plot point because I felt that, by that point in the book Celeste was seemingly happier with herself. Seeing Lively miserable shouldn't have had an effect on her. Celeste should have been happy enough to just ignore the drama.

Sandra apologizes to Celeste at the end, also. Celeste acts coldly towards her. I realize what Sandra did was wrong, but it just seemed like Celeste had this arrogant attitude that was unjustified. In my experience with poor self esteem, Celeste should have gradually felt better about herself. It seemed almost overnight she was feeling better about things, but it was taken too far, to the point where I felt she was a horrible character.

I felt that the book would have had a more positive message had Celeste learned to eat cookies in moderation, rather than cut them from her diet altogether. Celeste decides how great she looks and after reading for over 100 pages of how fat she felt, how she threw up in gym, how she was bullied, etc, it seemed like she did a complete 180.

She is insistent, that she finishes the pageant for herself, not because anyone wants to, but she really is just going along with what she didn't want to do all along. She's changed as a person. She didn't learn to accept her weight, she only gets noticed by a boy later in the story when she is thinner, her relationship with her mother who had been so pushy about the pageant is just solved instantly. I didn't agree with any of the things that tied the story up.

In true cliché fashion, Celeste wins the contest. Nothing is heard about what happens with Lively or what happens with Sandra, after Celeste tells her that she doesn't know if they can hang out again. There was no closure for the secondary characters.

Overall, I was extremely disappointed.

[Avah · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i could rate this 0 stars i would. it is quite literally promoting disordered eating, and not only that the plot sucked as well. this book is terrible and i’m not sure why it exists but also i’m not sure why it is marketed to teenagers and kids. do not read this book, if you happen to stumble upon a copy burn it.

[Sydney .L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really l this book is probably below my level but I still thought it was really good. It is about a girl who is named Celeste and she is kind of overweight and she gets bullied a lot a school. When her aunt signs her up for a modeling competition for husky peaches (larger girls) she is torn and starts to freak out. She is stuck between letting her aunt down and being teased. during her PE class, she is given a diet log and she decides she will go on a diet and work to be skinny so she won't be allowed to do the husky peach competition. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction and enjoys an active storyline.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars.

Meh. Good enough but not one I'll probably remember.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I love most about Erin Dionne’s books is that she really gets what it is like to be a bullied teen. She understands what it means to be different and uses that to create memorable characters in realistic situations. Her ways of dealing with bullies are ideas teens can use in their own lives once they muster the courage. Celeste loves Oreos and Twinkies. She would rather eat potatoes than other vegetables. Now that she is in eighth grade and trying on hideous bridesmaids dresses she is less than happy with her size. Especially since mean girl, Lively, uses every opportunity to call her a cow. To make matters worse, Lively is out to steal her best friend, Sandra. Sadly Sandra succumbs and ditches Celeste to join the mean girl gang. At the same time Celeste’s aunt signs her up for a challenge modeling plus size teen clothing. Celeste is mortified and afraid this will just be more fodder for the mean girls. Celeste decides to lose weight in order not to be considered for plus size modelship and to try and sabotage the competition. These situations lead her on a journey of self discovery and new friendships. Watching her transformation from low self esteem to a braver young lady is fun and empowering to watch. Dealing with Sandra after she was so cruel was difficult, but I love how Celeste handled it. Many teen girls will see themselves in Celeste and will relate to her struggles. I highly recommend this book for them. I loved it as much as Carolyn Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt and Other Round Things.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a YA novel since I WAS a young adult, so it's a bit hard for me to judge its quality as I have nothing to compare this to. But Erin is a fellow graduate of my MFA program at Emerson College so I had to snatch the book up the week it appeared in paperback.

The story started a bit slow, but once we went to round one of the "Husky Peach" modeling contest, the one she is determined to "throw" by giving lackluster answers during her personality interview, I was hooked. Erin creates some really winning characters (including the enemy you love to hate) and enough tension and subplots that I breezed through. I was delighted at the ending and watching Celeste emerge as a more confident girl.

On the negative side, the cover gave me a constant craving for Joe-Joes!

[Arapahoe Libraries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as Celeste not only learns to lose weight but learns to stand up for herself and become more outgoing. A fun, fast read.

[YA Reads Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celeste has body image issues, but its no surprise considering she cops it everywhere she goes. At school the kids constantly taunt her about her body and at home she’s in the shadow of her two cousins who are so beautiful that they’re model material – literally. Her cousin Kathleen has been entering herself in beauty pageants for ages now, and Kirsten is a supreme athlete. Celeste is … well, Celeste is just Celeste.

Then one day, Celeste’s Aunt secretly enters her into a plus-sized modelling competition. Celeste’s mother is overjoyed and thinks this is just what Celeste needs, but Celeste doesn’t agree. Don’t they understand how the kids at school will treat her if they see her modelling for a plus-sized clothing company? It would be the most humiliating thing ever, and Celeste isn’t sure she’ll survive it. So she devises a plan to spoil her chances of being selected. You can’t be a plus sized model if you’re not plus sized, right?

Right.

So Celeste decides that in order to preserve her dignity, it might be time to step away from the cookies, just for now. She embarks on a weight loss plan and is determined to lose enough weight so that the judges will think she’s not big enough for their competition.

Losing weight is hard. Actually, it bites the big one – badly. Apples are not nearly as interesting as cookies, not even close.

Celeste has other problems, too. Her long time best friend seems to have ditched her for the most popular girl in school – who also happens to be Celeste’s enemy number one. How will Celeste deal with this rejection on top of everything else?

Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies raises some interesting discussion points about body image. As Celeste begins to lose weight, everything in her life seems to fall into place. I have some pretty firm opinions about body image and when I was reading this I actually found myself feeling a little irritated that Celeste’s happiness increased as a direct result of her weight loss. I found myself asking ‘what kind of message does this send to the kids of the world?’ But I realised that because of my own views on the subject, I approached the novel with a very closed mind. Models has a whole stack of really important messages that I think are worth a detailed discussion. For example, yes, Celeste’s life does get better the smaller she becomes but she never lets herself become obsessed with dieting and it is important to note that she ends up at a much healthier body weight at the end of the novel. I think its important to realise that there are important messages about inner health woven into the text as well as messages about body image. If you approach the text with a body-image mindset only, you’re likely to be unsatisfied with the end result. You need to read it as a multi-faceted text, because that’s exactly what it is. While it may seem that Celeste’s family approach her weight-loss from a superficial perspective, if you read a little closer you’ll see that they’re all about Celeste’s health and mental well-being.

Models is like a really pretty dress made from two tone colour fabric: pretty and fresh whichever way you look at it.

Like with any novel that approaches a sensitive subject like this one, I’m sure anyone that reads it is going to want to discuss it somewhere. I am chomping at the bit to talk to someone about this so we’ve decided that we’re going straight to the source. We’re in the process of interviewing Erin Dionne about her novel and her views on the issue of health and body image. Stay tuned for more.

[Mr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amy Brantner,141 pages. This is an interesting and fun book to read. I loved the fact that it described Celeste Harris's(the main character) life in great detail. it is about an overweight girl,(Celeste) who's life seems to be pretty well. Other than a girl named Lively Carson who always makes fun of her, she is happy. She has a really nice best friend, and a great family. But her whole life changes soon after that. Her aunt signs her up for a chubby modeling contest, and she really doesn't want to do it. What would Lively say if she found out! But her mother makes her promise to at least do the first round. Then later, Lively tries and succeeds in stealing Celeste's best friend, Sandra. Sandra barely talks to Celeste any more! Can Celeste's life get any worse?! Well, Celeste is determined to lose enough weight to be too thin to do the "Huskypeach Modeling Challenge," and find out what her best friend's problem is. Can she do it? You'll have to read,"Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies" to find out! Mr. O'Shell, I did not finish the book. I read up to page 141 and wrote a recommendation based on that section of the book.

[Lori Verni-Fogarsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my eleven-year-old daughter who loved it so much, she read it in two days. I was a little hesitant, as I don't normally read YA, but she recommended it so highly, I gave it a try. It was fantastic!

Great writing, believable characters, fantastic storyline. It's about an overweight middle school girl who is horrified when her Aunt enters her into a modeling competition for plus size girls. I was expecting it to be filled with messages entirely saying it's okay to be overweight (which I thought I'd be okay with). But I was pleasantly surprised, as the author developed the story in such a way that the message was more, "You have to be okay with yourself, either way." She did a great job of imparting the message without it seeming preachy at all. I think every female can relate to the main character!

At risk of providing too much detail (don't want to include any spoilers), I'd say that I highly recommend this novel for girls of any age. (There was no objectionable content for younger girls).

Loved it!

[Noa M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies a 5 star rating because i think that it gave a clear picture of what life is like for some kids. No, not every kid does Husky Peach fashion shows because their aunt signs them up. No not every kid is going to have a brother that get hurt every time he plays baseball, but for some people life is really hard because they don't want to be a "husky peach" and they don't want their friends to turn on them, and although that is not what they want, it often happens. All of this happening to you would feel crazy but all of this happens to one specific girl, Celeste. I would recommend this book to any girls in 5th through 8th grade.

[maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting more. Wasn't too bad :/

[Maddy W.]

I think the theme of this book is that attitude is more important than appearance.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really cute, even though parts of it were "hard" to read. Since this book's main character, Celeste, is only in 8th grade, one can only imagine the drama and the mean girls in it.

I couldn't stand the character of "Lively" at all. She is a bully and the type of real-life person who can make another live with emotional scars for life.

Friends come and go and they change as they grow older and meet new "friends."

Celeste has to learn to (or not to) deal with mistreatment from others.

Definitely worth reading.

[Janette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a fun, cute book. I enjoyed the main character's transformation as she learned to find her confidence and stand up for herself. The writing was good and covered the gamut from sad to funny and shocking. I wasn't expecting much when I decided to read it, so was pleasantly surprised to find I really enjoyed it.

[Rainrocks^o^(aka Breanna) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This really is a great book! It makes you think about other people and their feelings!IT IS A MUST READ!!!

[711leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just may be the worst book ever.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was cute and light. Perfect for my vacation reading. I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish....I definitely liked it.

[Gabriella · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you don't like your body just go on a diet right? Well, this story is all about an eighth-grader, Celeste. She is an overweight girl that loves chocolate cookies. Her aunt entered her into a plus-size model beauty pageant "Miss HuskyPeach". In Celeste's eyes that was a bad idea because she was already made fun of a lot in school and becoming a plus-size model didn't help. After all, she is in middle school and I can say this from experience if something doesn't go according to plan then we think it is the end of the world or that everyone is going to remember that till we die but in reality, in a week everyone forgets. Her solution was to lose weight by going on a diet and because of that she had to stop eating chocolate cookies. That was an enormous sacrifice for her! To make it even harder for her she suffered the daily bullying of Queen Bee Lively. There is a part in the book where things get lonely for celeste because she has to go through losing her best friends. For her advantage, she finds new, real, and awesome friends.

In this book, you don't only have a look into a middle schooler's daily life about how it is exhausting, hard, and horrifying it is but it tells a story about a girl that overcome her insecurities and bullies. This book made me realize how adults think about middle schoolers in a way because it opened my eyes to things I have not thought about. This book also encouraged me to take better care of my body and to not care about what every single person thinks about me because there are always going to be some that have more defined abs, toned legs, etc. In my opinion, no one can please every single person they know so look how you want to look, wear whatever clothes you want to wear, and don't care about all those people that are hating because just like you have insecurities too because you don't need to please anyone but yourself.

[Makayla Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I have related to a book harder in my life! Alot events that happened in this book took place in my own life. (It gave me flashbacks to running the mile over and over again in middle school!) I would recommend this book to all the "Skinny Bananas" out there who would like to know what it is like to be a "Husky Peach." 😂 Also if you liked this book I suggest Confetti Girl by Diana López.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modeling might be fun or a great opportunity, but being face of a clothing line for chunky girls was not the type of modeling that would generate seaside celebrity photo sessions. Excessive junior high teasing? Probably. Snuggles with Theo Christmas? No way. Also, husky or not, models don't eat chocolate cookies.

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about positive image and self confidence!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun easy read!

[Sting Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting. I couldn't put it down. Would totally recommend!

[hanney · Rating 3 out of 5]

(reread) i forgot about this book lol!! good for its time