Empty

— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Bullying has become a hot topic in YA lit, and Walton offers a sensitive portrayal. Recommend to parents as well as their teens for facilitating self-examination and open lines of communication."

SLJ

"Empty will hit home hard with teens who have been or are being tormented and should shed some light on how painful and destructive bullying is to its victims."

Kirkus Reviews

In a cautionary tale about merciless bullying, does generic characterization allow readers to look in a mirror, or does it dilute the point? Dell's callous father has abandoned her; her drug-addicted mom's emotionally absent and cold. Former best friend Cara now hangs out with mean, popular kids who demand that Dell repeatedly perform a mooing sumo wrestler imitation. She always acquiesces, humiliated. The plot marches on, presenting trauma after trauma without nuance. Dell's former crush, Brandon, cajoles her upstairs at a drunken party and rapes her; then, "BEWARE OF THE RAPIST BOVINE," trumpets an anonymous sign on Dell's locker as rumor breaks out that Dell raped Brandon. Positive that nobody would believe that "the enormous, ugly, fat girl…was raped by the hottest guy in school" and viewing Cara's choice between her and the good-looking bullies as "being offered a bowl of shit or a bowl of ice cream," Dell's too self-loathing and depressed to notice the two adults who might help. With nowhere to turn except food (chips are "greasy, salty calm") and her baby sister (a well-written dash of warmth, but toddlers can't save teens), Dell just wants everything to end. It's subtle as a truck--see Ellen Hopkins' Impulse (2007) for a complex, layered treatment of suicide--but the stock portrayals may let readers (bullied, bully or observer) slot themselves in where appropriate and heed this red flag. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Bullying has become a hot topic in YA lit, and Walton offers a sensitive portrayal. Recommend to parents as well as their teens for facilitating self-examination and open lines of communication."

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Seventeen-year-old Dell is overweight, and she eats to deal with a series of letdowns, beginning when her father left the family. No one understands the pain she harbors, not even her best friend. She hides behind her weight and self-deprecating jokes. Her classmates even get her to participate in sumo poses and to moo for them on demand. The bullying turns vicious at a party; she drinks too much and is raped by one of the bullies, on whom she happens to have had a crush. She has no one to turn to, and rumors start that she attacked him. Dell's life is starting to get even more hellish and she is running on empty. Dell is a well-drawn character, and her loneliness and hurt are palpable. Teens will be sucked into her downward spiral and will start to wonder if her situation is ever going to get better. Empty will hit home hard with teens who have been or are being tormented and should shed some light on how painful and destructive bullying is to its victims.—Shannon Seglin, formerly at Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VA