SOLVED. YA overweight student taking diet pills 80s/90s [s]

[Sarah]

Edit: This is a fiction book I'm sure.

I read a book when I was around about year 10/11, so this will have been around about 1990. I'm pretty sure it was written at least a few years earlier than that. I always thought it was by Beverley Cleary for some reason, but the book seems more like something Norma Klein or Barbara Wersba would have written. I seem to think the author's name had a 'B' in it.

Anyway, the story was about a young girl, probably 15/16 years of age, who was overweight and fed up with it. She wanted to prove something. Sounds like many others I've seen and read. But this one was different because she found a doctor that prescribed diet pills, which turned out to be cocaine or speed based. She had a developing relationship with a boy who was very supportive of her.

I know she ended up losing lots of weight and struggling with life because she was wide awake and unable to sleep. She was exhausted, and I think she became paranoid and had alarming episodes of psychosis.

I've often gone looking for the book because I'd like to reread it and see if I've remembered it right. I like it because it really scared me off any kind of diet pills or quick fix to lose weight.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[A~]

Are you sure this is not an episode of Saved by the Bell, there was one with a very similar plotline.

[Sarah]

I possibly watched that back then, but no, it was a really good book. I've looked for it a few times but I now know I was mistaken in thinking it was written by Beverley Cleary. I wish I knew why I thought it was.

[Holly]

This doesn't seem exactly right, but maybe Deadly Diet?

Or anything on one of these lists?
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

[Sarah]

Holly wrote: "This doesn't seem exactly right, but maybe Deadly Diet?

I don't think it's this, because it came out long after I finished high school, and I'm positive I read it when I was around year 10 or so - so I think it might have been written around late 1980s, early 1990.

I wonder if it's connected to Second Star to the Right - I may have read this around that time too, and I'm certain it's one of those really quite iconic authors of the time. However, I don't know if that one delves into pills, and I know that this was the main issue of the book I'm remembering, that a doctor would actually prescribe diet pills to a teenager, and that at that time they contained some really scary stuff.

I might also try to find Heads You Win, Tails I Lose, this also seems possibly familiar.

I've bought these books from AbeBooks, now to wait and see whether they ring any bells when I get them. Thank you for the suggestions!

[Liralen]

I don't think Second Star to the Right deals in diet pills, or if it does, certainly not to that extent. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose could well be it (I have a copy, and this thread inspired me to get around to reading it). Details: (view spoiler)[Her parents -- and literally everyone else in the book other than the love interest -- are on her to lose weight. Her crush (not the love interest) is a horrible sack of horrible and constantly telling her that she's fat and should be a women's libber because no man will ever want her. She steals the diet pills from her mother's stash and later calls in another prescription 'for her mother' so she can access more pills. She's in a play at school (Antigone) and things hit the fan when she takes a second pill before rehearsal and gets more than a bit loopy. (hide spoiler)]

Happy to provide further details if you'd like, though you said you ordered the books, so... :)

[Sarah]

It certainly could be. I think I did read Second Star to the Right years ago too, but I'd like to reread it. Only problem is that it may take weeks for them to arrive here (Australia). Still, it will happen that I can read them and work out if either are the right one.

[Sarah]

I've received and read Second Star to the Right, and I'm certain I read that in high school, but I don't think it's the one. However I may be thinking of something that is confused with this book, so elements of each have been mixed up in my mind.

[Sarah]

I now have received Heads You Win, Tails I lose, and have begun to read it. I will let you know if it's the one I think. It looks good so far, but I think I'll know when I finish it, if it's the one I thought of.

[Sarah]

I'm not 100% certain if this was the book I thought it was. I know I read this book as a teenager, and it's very, very close to the storyline I was remembering, with a few differences. However, I may have confused parts with another book I'd read, because I think this is most likely the one.

I really did enjoy reading it again, but the actual story is nowhere near as cautionary as I'd remembered. It nearly makes diet pills look not quite as bad, and I was sure I'd remembered it as being a really scary ride for the main character, whereas this was nowhere near as bad as I think it would have justified.

[Kris]

I see your request is marked Solved. If you find this isn't your book, just come back and we'll move it to the Unsolved folder.

[Michele]

Hey, Remember Fat Glenda? maybe? I don't remember how she lost the weight though.

[Sarah]

Michele wrote: "Hey, Remember Fat Glenda? maybe? I don't remember how she lost the weight though."
Thanks for the suggestion - I've seen this book's description, but I'm pretty sure I've never actually read it, and the other one seems very close to what I was remembering, so I think it was the right one and I just misremembered some of it.

[Sarah]

I just read Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! thinking that maybe it was actually the mystery book, but I really don't think it was at all. Most likely Heads You Win, Tails I Lose is the one I remembered. It's just so sad that a book that had a profound effect on you when you're young does not quite elicit the same response when you're older. I'm leaving this as solved, but it's still in the back of my mind.

[Rainbowheart]

You could also put it in Possibly Solved, if you're not entirely sure it's the right one.