Maggie Goes On A Diet, which is due to go on sale in October, tells the story of a heavily overweight 14-year-old girl who becomes a school football star after losing weight.
The cover shows an illustration of an overweight girl holding up a small pink dress in the mirror, which shows a reflection of her thinner self.
The description reads: “This book is about a 14-year-old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star.
“Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.”
Barnes & Noble, which is already offering the book for pre-order, lists it with a recommended reading age of six to 12. Amazon offers it to an even younger readership, suggesting ages four to eight.
Author Paul Kramer, who is based in Hawaii, has self-published the book, which is a follow-up to his other children’s titles which include Do Not Dread Wetting the Bed and Louie the Lobster Mobster.
Presumably his book was written with good intent, in a bid to combat rising levels of child obesity in the US, but many feel he is misguided. Indeed, a report published last year in the journal Pediatrics revealed that the number of US children under 12 that had been hospitalised with eating disorders had soared by 119% between 1999 and 2006.
Susan Ringwood, of UK eating disorder charity Beat, said: “Concerns about weight, size and shape are beginning to affect children at ever younger ages. Six and seven-year-olds already believe that their size tells the world what sort of person they are, and that big equals fat equals unpopular.”
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Already, Amazon’s reader forums are abuzz with criticism for the book, with some threatening to stop buying from the online retailer altogether.Lisa Hutchison wrote: “This book is an abomination… It takes so little to trigger eating disorders in children and teenagers and this could be such a huge trigger. If you read this to your kid it is tantamount to abuse.”
E Williams added: “It is irresponsible to equate thinness with self-confidence. Children of every size need self-confidence in order to adjust to the demands of school.
“The idea that weight is something an individual can or should control is misleading, given that only 5% of dieters succeed in maintaining weight loss for even one year.”
—MailOnline
