Fat Chance! - Softcover

Leslea Newman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0704349345 ISBN 13: 9780704349346

Publisher: Livewire Books, 1996

Synopsis

This novel presents an invaluable message in a way that is never didactic, but always funny and entertaining. Written in the form of a private diary, it tells about dieting, bulimia and the struggle young women have with body image.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-9?Judi Beth Liebowitz appears to be a typical 13-year-old girl. She wonders what she will be when she grows up, what having a boyfriend would be like, and wishes she could lose weight. This desire to be thin, however, begins to dominate her thoughts and actions. Newman chooses a diary format to allow readers a personal look at Judi's emotions. As diary entries progress, her determination to be thin consumes her. She becomes friendly with Nancy Pratt, the most popular and skinniest girl in school, and learns that Nancy binges and purges. As Judi begins to experiment with this new way of ridding herself of food, Nancy is rushed to the emergency room and placed in intensive care. The story finishes a bit too neatly with Judi making up with her best friend, confiding in her English teacher, and confessing her problems with eating to her mother. Everyone is understanding, and she eventually meets with a counselor. Judi is a likable character with whom young teens can empathize, but Nancy is portrayed as a selfish, manipulative girl, and readers never learn her motivations. Fat Chance had the potential to be a strong story on an important topic, but it is too flawed to have its intended impact.?Melissa Yurechko, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 6-9. Judi thinks she's fat. More than that, she is gradually becoming obsessed with her weight, and it's affecting her relationships with her single-parent mom and her best friend, Monica, as well as her interactions with her classmates, especially the boys. Diary entries tell the story--the teasing, the embarrassment, the guilt, the self-disgust--as Judi progresses from sporadic attempts at dieting to fasting to bingeing and purging. There are some very nice touches here (the diary format being one), but there is also evidence of a rather heavy hand: a fat teacher becomes Judi's deliverer, and a classmate far worse off than Judi depicts the consequences of abusing food. What Newman really gets right is the voice. Judi's unpretentious confessional will sound achingly familiar to girls struggling with self-image: the angst and the details are perfect. Stephanie Zvirin

About this edition

• Publisher: Livewire Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0704349345
• ISBN 13: 9780704349346
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192