Hazel, Not a Nut

Hazel, Not a Nut is, as the name suggests, an upbeat and modern story about a girl named Hazel.

Written in light-hearted ‘chick-lit’ style, this book nonetheless deals with important issues such as bullying in school, and also issues of self-image and insecurity. Hazel is overweight, and highly sensitive about this. This leaves her open to the pretty (and, to Hazel’s mind, popular) Lauren Stevenson, class bully. What is very interesting, however, is that both Hazel and Lauren are under pressure regarding their weight. Lauren has to stay thin to be perfect for her demanding and pushy parents. Hazel has to lose weight to fulfil popular ideas of what a teenaged girl should look like. Interesting too, for me, is the lack of a ‘love interest’ for Hazel, since so many books about teenagers present ‘getting her perfect guy’ as the motivation for teenaged girls doing things like wanting to lose weight.

However, in spite of Hazel not living happily ever after with her dream boy after shedding pounds, the book does have a fairytale ending of sorts. The victim rescues the bully from herself and they end up as friends. This romanticism lets the rest of the story down a bit. Still, the novel presents us with a fairly realistic view of weight issues from the perspective of a Year 9 girl. I enjoyed reading it, though it has a tendency to over-simplify Hazel’s views, and also the issues involved. I would recommend the book as a good light read for young teens.