n part, this book is the personal story of Stacey Handler, granddaughter of the woman who created the Barbie doll. Through autobiographical prose, Stacey openly discloses her battle with body image. She deftly chronicles both her struggles and her triumphs, in the hope of aiding women similarly in pain.

Other parts of the book deal with more universal themes on body acceptance and self-image. Stacey accomplishes this through straightforward poetry, which is totally void of the usual psycho-babble and overcomplicated text usually associated with this subject. Stacey brings a refreshing style to these pages. She simply lets her words and feelings about a popular and often misunderstood subject, reach out to women everywhere.

The Body Burden covers many aspects of food and body-image issues. It runs the gamut from the poignant, to the humorous, to the sarcastic. It speaks to the vulnerability that is inside all of us. This book is truly for women of all shapes and sizes -- the plus-size woman, the overeater, the anorexic, the bulimic, the frustrated perfectionist or anyone whose life has been reduced to the cold numbers on the scale.