45 Pounds (More or Less), by K.A. Barson

Ann is a sixteen year old who's never been cool. In fact, it's worse - she's fat. And to top it all off, she has a mom who's so perfect she looks like a Barbie. Her mom is constantly trying to get her to lose weight, but she doesn't do it in the right way, and it just makes Ann feel depressed and unable to focus on weight loss. That all changes when Ann's aunt announces that she's getting married and wants Ann to be a bridesmaid. Ann's determined to lose the weight once and for all so she can look good in a bridesmaids dress.

I loved Ann's voice in the novel; she really made you feel like you were living her experiences. You could feel the judgements that people make on others that are obese, and the way people blame fat people for their problems. It was pretty obvious.

K.A. Barson also captured high school mean girl culture very astutely. There's a group of girls in Anne's class called "The Knees" - Courtney, Raynee, Tiffany, and Melanie, who seem to want to make everyone's lives miserable.

There was some bad language in the novel, but I'd recommend it to my 8th graders.