Fat Kid Rules the World

Going, K.L. 2003. Fat Kid Rules the World.

I'm a sweating fat kid standing on the edge of the subway platform staring at the tracks. I'm seventeen years old, weigh 296 pounds, and I'm six-foot-one. I have a crew cut, yes a crew cut, sallow skin, and the kind of mouth that puckers when I breathe. I'm wearing a shirt that reads Miami Beach--Spring Break 1997, and huge, bland tan pants--the only kind of pants I own. Eight pairs, all tan.

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm standing just over the yellow line trying to decide whether people would laugh if I jumped. Would it be funny if the Fat Kid got splattered by a subway train? Is that funny? I'm not being facetious; I really want to know. Like it or not, apparently there's something funny about fat people. Something unpredictable. Like when I put on my jacket and everyone in the hallway stifles laughter. Or when I stand up after sitting in the cafeteria and Jennifer Maraday, Brooke Rodriguez, and Amy Glover all bust a gut. I don't get angry. I just think, What was funny about that? Did my butt jiggle? Did I make the bench creak so loud that it sounded like a fart? Did I leave an indentation? There's got to be something, right? Right?

So it's not a stretch to be standing on the wrong side of the yellow line giving serious thought to whether people would laugh if I threw myself in front of the F train. And that's the one thing that can't happen. People can't laugh. Even I deserve a decent suicide.

Meet Troy Billings. Told in first person, the novel is one of life lost and found. Troy, ready to jump, or at least ready to think about being ready to jump is a young man who thinks he has nothing to live for. Until. And I love this until. Until he meets the most unlikeliest of friends. Curt MacCrae, a homeless teenager of legendary status in the music world. A former student at Troy's school, Troy knows--or thinks he knows--all about Curt MacCrae. The coolest of the cool. But also the skinniest of the skinny.

In this relationship, it's never quite clear (to them or to the reader) who is saving who. 2 kids. 2 sets of problems or issues. 1 unlikely dream. Curt wants--or needs--Troy to be his drummer. The problem? Troy doesn't know how to drum. He has the dream--most boys his age do--of being in a band, a punk band. But he doesn't have the know-how. But Curt is there to see that this is one dream becomes reality.

It's an unlikely pairing. It's an unusual book. But I liked it. I really liked. I had my doubts. His family, Troy's family, seems a bit dysfunctional, a bit disconnected in the beginning. Which of course mirrors how Troy feels about his family life. But as he discovers who he is and what he wants and needs, Troy's family is there with him. His brother. His father. Both are there and willing to stay there, to stay a part of his life. Troy finds out day by day just how lucky he is.

Troy has a big problem. He thinks of himself as 'the fat kid.' His self-esteem (his self-confidence) is non-existent because he believes the lies he tells himself. Through his relationships with Curt and his friends as well as his changing relationships with his family, Troy is becoming someone he can like, someone he can respect, someone he can love.

183

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The End of the Beginning.

Avi. 2004. The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (And An Even Smaller Ant).

Originally published in 2004, The End of the Beginning has just recently been published in paperback. (Harcourt for those that are curious). The book is small. (144 pages). The book is charming. And delightful. And funny. I think it's a book that is good for a wide range of ages. I thought it was charming and funny enough that it might just delight adults, and I hope that it would work equally well on children. (I'm not a child. I can only remember my own childhood, and put myself back there when I'm reading. But I think this book would have worked on me then as well.) What makes it so delightful (for me) is that it reminds me in a vague way as being Alice-like and Pooh-like. Something about the humor. Something about the storytelling. It just works. (Alice-like referring to Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Pooh-like referring to Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne).

Avon, a rather small snail, read a book every day. He loved to read because books told him all about the things that creatures did when they went on adventures. Now, Avon had noticed that when creatures finished their adventures, and when the stories ended, the creatures were always happy. Because Avon had never had an adventure of his own, the more he read, the sadder he became. It was absolutely necessary, he decided, to have adventures for himself. Only then would he be happy.

So Avon, once encouraged, seeks out his own adventures. But he's not alone. No, he takes as his companion Edward the ant. The two become the best sort of friends. And adventures are sure to follow, right? Well, you'll see. A snail's kind of thrilling adventure may not be the typical variety. But it is always in good fun.

I love the writing. I love the humor. I love the friendship. I think The End of the Beginning would make a great read-aloud. And it's a book that I'll be happy to share with my family now that I'm finished reviewing it. Required reading if you will.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Before Midnight

Dokey, Cameron. 2007. Once Upon A Time: Before Midnight: A Retelling of Cinderella.

First paragraph: What do you know about yourself? What are your stories? The ones you tell yourself, and the ones told by others. All of us begin somewhere. Though I suppose the truth is that we begin more than once; we begin many times. Over and over, we start our own tales, compose our own stories, whether our lives are short or long. Until at last all our beginnings come down to just one end, and the tale of who we are is done.

This is the story of Constanze, though even in her own story she is better known as Cendrillon, Child of cinders. Her mother, a beautiful woman, dies in childbirth. Her father sick with grief--anger, bitterness, regret, fear--rejects her. She is raised by her godmother, Old Mathilde. Her childhood companion is a boy named Raoul. Her father returned with him when Cendrillon was just two weeks old. The father does not live with them or acknowledge them. They're in the country, almost completely forgotten. But as you might have guessed, they don't stay forgotten.

It all starts with a wish on her fifteenth birthday. (I believe it is her fifteenth. Anyway, it's a birthday.) She wishes for love; she wishes for family. Her bold wish is that her father will remarry. She wants a mother to love and love her in return. She also wishes for two stepsisters. Two because that way at least one might love her in return. A few weeks (or maybe several months) later her wish comes knocking on the door. Surprise. The stepmother and her two stepsisters are there with no clue who Cendrillon is. Her father, of course, never mentioned her.

This isn't a marriage of love. Nor is it one of convenience. It is an arranged marriage. When the king orders Chantal (the stepmother) to marry Etienne de Brabant (the father), how can either one refuse? An order is an order. The father is rumored to be the Queen's man. The stepmother is rumored to be the King's. (The king and queen hate each other. Hate. And both are looking to control the other. So the kingdom has two sides--those that support the Queen's dominance, and those that support the King's rule.)

The stepmother and her two children are just as cast off as Cendrillon herself. Not wanted. Sent to the country to live forgotten forever.

This uneasy existence might have continued on year after year except for one little thing:

The Prince is giving a ball.

Every eligible maiden must attend.

This story of Cendrillon is perhaps more complex than you're expecting.

Last sentence: True love never dies.

193 pages

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Novella Challenge

I have just joined the novella challenge!

Simplified rules: Read six books (100-250 pps) between April 2008 and September 2008.

1. Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey
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