Being Sixteen

“This is one of those books you can’t put down, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. My wish for this book is that every high school girl, her sisters, and their mom will read Being Sixteen and then get together and discuss what they’ve learned from it.” —Jack Weyland, author of Charly

The night of my sixteenth birthday, I didn’t even bother to make a wish when I blew out the candles on the cake. It was my sixteenth birthday, after all. My wishes had already come true. When you turn sixteen, you can start dating. And driving. And living. I counted the candles on my cake as the flames flickered in the summer breeze. I heard the cheers of my friends and family, and as I tasted cake and summer and the promise of good times to come, I thought, This is going to be a good year. Maybe the best year of my life. I had no idea.

Juliet Kendall has been looking forward to her sixteenth birthday for what feels like forever. At first, it seems like being sixteen will be as perfect as she dreamed—she has great friends, a cute almost-boyfriend, a spot on the varsity girls’ basketball team, and even a car of her own. But, as the year goes on, she discovers that her sister Carly is hiding a secret and realizes that, in fact, being sixteen may be her hardest year yet.

Being Sixteen is a coming-of-age story about two sisters and their different struggles. It addresses what it means to have a testimony, what it means to be a friend and a sister, and what’s involved in dealing with and overcoming an eating disorder.