Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Earth, My Butt and other Big Round Things


I just finished The Earth, My Butt and other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. It was published in 2003 and won a Printz award.
It came highly recommended from a group of 8th grade girls my son hangs out with.
The main character Virginia Shreves is a plus size high schooler who lives by the "fat girl code of conduct."
She feels out of place in what she calls her picture perfect family. She is unable to communicate with her mother who happens to be a adolescent psychologist, her busy jet setting father who leers at young hot bodies, her popular older brother that her parents worship and a beautiful, skinny sister who has run off to Africa.
Just when things couldn't get worse her very best friend moves across the country to Walla Walla, Washington so her parents can write a book about onions.
One phone call changes everything she thought she knew about her family and her self.
Virginia is a girl that is very easy to relate to if you remember all the ups and downs of high school drama. I loved being dropped in the middle of her complicated life and watching her grow through out the book. She slowly comes into her own as she figures out a way to deal with not only her own issues but her not so perfect family's issues. Her anger and frustrations felt very real and I liked that her transformation doesn't happen over night.
Good book! I would recommend this book for readers 13 and up. There are some sexual situations to be aware of.
This book is available at the Salmon Public Library.

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