VIola is 12 years old and a few kilos more than she would like. Her classmates call her Piggy and she can’t stand it. Her dream is to become a director to do justice to girls like her who “were not born with a Barbie body”. But to get started he needs a smartphone and it won’t be easy to get it. Start like this The most beautiful side (Salani) by Alberto Pellai, doctor and psychotherapist, and his wife Barbara Tamborini, educational psychologist. A novel on body positivity intended for readers between 10 and 14 years old, to push pre-adolescents to acquire awareness and confidence.
Alberto Pellai and Barbara Tamborini are the authors of a book on body positivity, The most beautiful side (Salani).
But what is the best part? Pellai explains: «Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. The mistake is thinking that the most beautiful side is the one that is imposed on us from outside, often an unattainable model. At the beginning, Viola thinks so too, but as the story progresses, she will discover that she has many beautiful sides that she didn’t suspect she had. But above all, with a virtuous circuit, will also ensure that the people around her – family, friends – will look for their unsuspected most beautiful sides». The point for Viola will no longer be the kilos to lose, but a new approach to life.
Barbara Tamborini adds: «We are targeting pre-adolescents because the most beautiful side is also a concrete, daily project to be carried out when everything changes quickly. That age is a construction site, every day Viola has positive and negative experiences that make her grow and help her gain awareness. Between tears and joys his identity is structured».
The cover of the book by Pellai and Tamborini.
Pellai: «Body positivity is also health»
On the one hand there is enormous external pressure on the adolescent body to adhere to winning models, and this leads to an obsessive look at the body. On the other hand, however, it is also true that body positivity means taking care of your body and yourself, perhaps saying no to junk food and yes to a healthier lifestyle. Which is exactly what Viola does, together with her family. «There is a general rethinking around the body, from a perspective of health, and not of beauty», continues Pellai.
Body positivity then means being proud of your body which is healthy, cared for and well nourished. A theme that especially concerns young girls, and it is no coincidence that her protagonist is twelve-year-old Viola, torn between her gluttony, which pushes her to eat the most delicious pastries, and her anxiety which always seizes her in front of the mirror.
A very interesting aspect of the book is the choice made by the two authors not to talk about social media and cell phones. The counter-current position of Viola’s parents is striking from the start as they decided to give her the cell phone only after her eighth grade exam (but they will have to change their minds to allow her to take the videomaker course). «The problem today», says Tamborini, «is that if in the past the typical conflict of pre-adolescence was between the body you have and the one you would like to have, now there is a third body, the virtual one, which can be modified . In a book that promotes real well-being, we wanted Viola to move only in one area of reality, between school, friends, family, within a manageable horizon. If you train for life in a real environment, you become more capable of being in the world». In addition to the virtual there is real life. And it is there that Viola, between smiles, tears, hugs and jealousy, will learn to love herself and her body.
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