2018 School Spending Survey Report
The Happiest Girl in the World
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When she’s six years old, Sera Wheeler thinks gymnastics is fun. Then her YMCA instructor tells her mother that Sera has a gift and could be an elite gymnast. She and her new friend Lucy get closer to their dreams of the Olympics when they are invited to train at a camp run by a gymnastics power couple. At camp, Lucy has some bad stomach pain, so Dr. Eddie Levett comes to the cabin to treat Lucy. The visit is the start of Eddie’s long-term abuse of Lucy. Lucy tries to report him several times, but none of the adults will listen to her. Desperate to keep her Olympic dreams alive and to prove that her family’s time and monetary sacrifices were worth it, Sera turns on Lucy and their friendship fractures.
VERDICT As she did with the Catholic Church in Mercy House, Dillon lays bare the sins of the U.S. gymnastic world and all those who enable this sport that forces young girls to give up their childhoods and subject their bodies to harsh physical routines and drugs. Dillon sticks the landing with this layered book about abuse, drive, family expectations, and trauma.
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