My Eyes Are Up Here

By Laura Zimmermann

Book Overview

Insightful, frank, and funny, My Eyes Are Up Here is a razor-sharp debut about a teenage girl struggling to rediscover her sense of self in the year after her body decided to change all the rules.

A "monomial" is a simple algebraic expression consisting of a single term. 30H, for example. 15-year-old Greer Walsh hasn't been fazed by basic algebra since fifth grade, but for the last year, 30H has felt like an unsolvable equation--one that's made her world a very small, very lonely place. 30H is her bra size--or it was the last time anyone checked. She stopped letting people get that close to her with a tape measure a while ago.

Ever since everything changed the summer before ninth grade, Greer has felt out of control. She can't control her first impressions, the whispers that follow, or the stares that linger after. The best she can do is put on her faithful XXL sweatshirt and let her posture--and her expectations for other people--slump.

But people--strangers and friends--seem strangely determined to remind her that life is not supposed to be this way. Despite carefully avoiding physical contact and anything tighter than a puffy coat, Greer finds an unexpected community on the volleyball squad, the team that hugs between every point and wears a uniform "so tight it can squeeze out tears." And then there's Jackson Oates, newly arrived at her school and maybe actually more interested in her banter than her breasts.

Laura Zimmermann's debut is both laugh-out-loud funny and beautifully blunt, vulnerable and witty, heartbreaking and hopeful. And it will invite readers to look carefully at a girl who just wants to be seen for all she is.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1984815245
• ISBN13: 9781984815248
• Release Date: June 2020
• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.7" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Refreshing Take on Body Image Issues

My Eyes Are Up Here is a refreshing take on body image issues and the impact they have on a girl’s self-esteem. Fifteen-year-old Greer Walsh has always felt defined and limited by her large breasts. She hides behind oversized sweatshirts and does everything she can to avoid physical contact and attention. But between joining the volleyball team and finding a new community there, and befriending Jackson Oates, the new guy in school, Greer starts to come to terms with her sense of self and starts to see herself as more than just the size of her chest. This is really a story about friendship and a girl learning to love herself for all her qualities. There is a bit of a love story, but I wouldn’t consider it to be the main plot of the story. I adored this story. It was so light and witty, yet incredibly powerful. I personally connected with this story, but for me, it was ballet instead of volleyball. I highly recommend My Eyes Are Up Here! It was such an endearing story but was overall very light. I wouldn’t consider it highly mature YA and would be appropriate for younger YA readers, however, I don’t feel as though you have to be a younger reader to enjoy it, given that I’m an adult and I loved it!

Parts were good

I am a bit conflicted about this book. I really liked how Greer's friends, Jessa and Maggie were there for her all the time and helped Greer to feel better about herself. I hope every high schooler can have such steadfast friends to help them through the tough teen years. I liked that part of the story, with Greer trying out for volleyball which also helped her change her attitude to her body. What I did not like was Greer's constant preoccupation with "Maude and Mavis". Yes, she is insecure about have larger breasts than some of the other teens and that did make life a bit harder in regards to finding clothes and bras to fit, but reading page after page and chapter after chapter about it, I got a little annoyed. I much preferred the volleyball sections and even the Jackson parts (he is sweet). The ending is good though and I like how Greer was finally able to come to terms with her whole self (at least for the moment) and find her happily now.