I just read an interesting article in the New York Times (published Oct. 13).  The lede mentions one of my own gripes with young adult literature (the junior ‘Sex and the City’-like obsession with products and sex).

 But the story surprises me by indicating that a didactic (ugh!) novel that discusses an overweight girl’s struggles actually did help real-life girls get healthier. Most people don’t believe that fiction necessarily influences young readers’ lifestyle - at least that’s what they said when I complained months ago about the sex in a book marketed to 12 year olds. I myself am unaware of much research that novels influence young people’s behavior. So that’s why I found this really interesting: 

By Tara Parker-Pope/New York Times

Some of the most popular books for teenage girls are littered with troubling messages. Novels like “Clique,” “Gossip Girl” and “A-List” feature high school girls who obsess about fashion, status and casual sex.

But a new series of books intended for 9- to 13-year-old girls goes beyond those spoiled stereotypes. The series, Beacon Street Girls, written under the pseudonym Annie Bryant, focuses on real-life issues like popularity, weight problems, alcohol and divorce.

The stories, which revolve around five middle-school girls in Brookline, Mass., are shaped by leading experts in adolescent development, with the goal of helping girls build self-esteem and coping skills. But can expert health advice wrapped up as fiction really make a difference for the books’ young readers? A surprising new study suggests that for some girls, it can.

At the annual scientific conference of the Obesity Society this month in Phoenix, researchers from the Duke medical school presented some remarkable findings on “Lake Rescue” (B*tween Productions, 2005), a Beacon Street book that focuses on the struggles of an overweight girl named Chelsea Briggs.

Chelsea is teased at school and is so self-conscious about her weight that she skips gym class. On a camping trip, she connects with an athletic camp counselor who was also overweight as a child. She gains confidence in her skills as a photographer, and when a group of campers get lost on a hike she helps lead them to safety. And in the course of all this, she gains a renewed appreciation for fitness and healthful eating.

The Duke researchers studied 81 girls enrolled in the university’s six-month childhood obesity program, called Healthy Lifestyles. Thirty-one girls were given a copy of “Lake Rescue”; 33 others got a 2006 Beacon Street book, “Charlotte in Paris,” that carries a positive message of self-esteem but doesn’t focus on weight or healthful eating. And 17 girls received the regular program counseling, but no book.

After six months, the girls who got “Lake Rescue” posted a decline in average body mass index scores of 0.71; those who didn’t read the book had an average increase of 0.05. That seemingly minor difference means the girls who read “Lake Rescue” will achieve a healthy weight in a few years if they maintain their regular growth rate and do not gain any more weight.

“The results of the study are not striking in how big they were but that it worked at all,” said Dr. Sarah C. Armstrong, a pediatrician who directs the Healthy Lifestyles program. “It’s such a positive, easy intervention. The next step is to follow these girls long term.”

For the rest of the story see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/health/14well.html?ref=books