Skin (Deborah Kelly, Rhiza Press)

Skin is a powerful reminder of how heavily appearances and beauty standards influence us during our teenage years and beyond. Multi-award-winning author Deborah Kelly (The Mosaic) delivers an easy-to-read yet emotionally rich novella – the first title in the Rhiza Shorts collection – that’s perfect for reluctant teen readers or those seeking a fast and engaging story. Lexie Collins is a confident, prodigious public speaker whose life takes an unexpected turn when she undergoes surgery to remove a dangerous melanoma, leaving one side of her face scarred. She quickly discovers that her friends and schoolmates aren’t as supportive or empathetic as she thought they would be, leading to feelings of self-doubt and isolation. Kelly’s portrayal of Lexie’s attachment to social media is strikingly authentic, prompting readers to reflect on their own dependence on technology to ‘fit in’. Through themes of friendship, bullying, anxiety, self-acceptance and resilience, Skin offers immediate conflict and a fast-paced narrative that draws readers into Lexie’s story. With the help of her family and a new friend, Moira, Lexie comes to understand that we are more than just our ‘wrapping paper’. Skin will resonate with young people struggling with self-esteem and the pressure to live up to social media’s filtered reality and is ideal for fans of Nova Weetman’s The Edge of Thirteen and Deborah Kelly’s The Thing About Oliver.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Nadia Heisler is a CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) writer originally from Brazil with a background in journalism. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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