Reading Response to Deenie by Judy Bume

         
          I recently read a book called Deenie by Judy Blume.  Deenie was about a very pretty girl who finds out she has scoliosis. Scoliosis is when your spine is shaped like an S. Deenie's  mom wants her to be a model so when she finds out that Deenie has scoliosis and has to wear a brace she is not happy. Deenie hates the brace too. I think that a big theme in this book is character change because Deenie refuses to wear the brace at first but then, Deenie starts to think it over and her attitude changes.

          In the beginning of Deenie, Deenie has all of these modeling auditions. Every modeling agency turns her down because Deenie has "bad posture." Her parents take her to a doctor and the doctor tells her that she has scoliosis and that Deenie has to wear a brace. Then when Deenie started to wear the brace she hated it. She felt that if she had to wear an ugly brace, she might as well not be pretty. Deenie was so mad that she took some scissors and cut off all her hair! Deenie hated the way she looked and it changed her personality. 

          Deenie started to see things differently. All she had left was a pretty face but, Deenie didn't care about how she looked anymore. The people that she thought were weird and gross turned out to be nice when she talked to them.For example this girl named Barbra had egzama on her neck so Deenie felt grossed out and she ignored her. The brace taught Deenie to accept people who weren't perfect and to realize that she treated people who weren't like her badly by ignoring them. In a way Deenie's back brace taught other people like her parents and friends to learn to accept her for who she was and not what she looked like.
 
          All in all, Deenie changed a lot through out the book. At first, she had a stuck up attitude about the brace and was only worried about what she looked like and how other people thought of her. In the the end Deenie's personality changed to a person who didn't as much care about what other people thought. This book taught me that looks don't matter, it's what is inside that counts.