The Better to Eat You With

In this expressive work of psychological horror, Mejia (It Happened to Anna) explores one tween’s grappling for bodily autonomy throughout a gripping summer-set mystery. Though 12-year-old Evan Rio’s parents haven’t officially separated, she knows it’s coming: her father is full of hollow cheer, while her mother, wrestling with body image issues, redirects her anxiety toward Evan under the guise of bonding through restrictive diets and exercise. Instead of spending the summer together as usual, Evan is sent to stay with her best friend, Billie Barnard, also 12, in lakeside resort town Sonrisa. While Billie is preoccupied by first crushes, however, Evan’s worries about her family fester, exacerbating her anorexia, body dysmorphia, and internalized shame. Meanwhile, the citizens of Sonrisa attempt to uncover the cause of mysterious claw marks, paw prints, and goose carcasses appearing around town, as well as nocturnal howling. Suspenseful atmosphere raises the stakes of Evan’s hair-raising investigation, while empathetic prose realistically depicts Evan’s experience with disordered eating, including her rationalizations of her family situation, her longing for control over her body and her circumstances, and her struggles with asking for help. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 10–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.)