The Earth my Butt and Other Big Round Things, Carolyn Mackler, Candlewick press, 246 pages
I found this book in the South Hadley High School library, in the fiction bookcase.
This book is about another teenager going through high school. The main Characters name is Virginia. Virginia feels like she does not fit in with her family, which is all thin smart and good-looking. Virginia is the odd one in the family trying to deal with the way she looks and feels about herself around her family and her peers. She has a tough life her parents are almost gone everyday, her sister is in Africa, and her brother is off to college. She also only has one friend named Shannon and she's in Walla Walla which stands for Washington. Virginia has no hope she thinks she's the only girl in the world that can't get a boyfriend, the catch is she can get a guy but just doesn't want to think it's true. She even has a guy that's she’s fooling around with but I think she’s looking for the one.
The audience for this book I think would be for girls that like drama and what high school is like for other people.
The way Carolyn Mackler's writing style is the ways teens can understand it. She’s uses small words and the lingo we use these days. For example
"You start," Shannon says
"My first wish is easy. I wish I were thin. I wish I had a perfect body."
"Kazam," Shannon says, tapping my forehead with her finger. "And your second wish?"
"I want a boyfriend who loves me and accepts me and we're great friends and he has a sense of humor and he's totally hot. If you decide to make him have green eyes and play shortstop for the Yankees, I wouldn't have a problem with that," (170). The author knows what every girls dream is and the perfect dream guy, so she writes like a teenager would.
1st passage “THE FAT GIRL CODE OF CONDUCT”
1. Any sexual activity is a secret. No public affection, no air kisses blown across the cafeteria. No carefully folded notes passed in the hall no riding the moped in public
2. Don’t discuss your weight with him let’s face it. You both know It’s there so don’t start bemoaning your body and pressure him into lying.
3.Go further than skinny girls. Find ways to alert him to this such as slutty comments peppered into the conversation. If you can’t sell him on your body you’d better over compensate with sexual perks.
4.Never ever, ever, ever, ever, push the relationship thing; everybody knows that guys hate disgusting relationships, so make it easy on him. Same goes for dates to movies and school dances bottom line. Let him get the milk without having to by the cow.
2nd passage Scale from 10 to -10 on how popular and dorky you are.
“I figure everyone starts at zero and points are added or subtracted according too coolness/dorkyness. I gain points because Byron (her older brother) went to school here and he was popular, so his legacy gives me some mileage (+5). I have decent hair that requires little work (+2). I’m smart, except in French (+2.5) I loose points because I’m overweight (-6.5). I wear neutral colors, no sparkles, baggy khakis, oversized sweaters (-4). I’m smart, which works against you if you’re smarter than a popular kid (-2).
3rd passage FACTS OF LIFE
Fact of life # 1: Fat girls don't get much action.
Fact of life # 2: I want to increase my kissability
The reason why these three passages stood out to me the most because I don't believe in half of the things here. Fat and skinny people are people. we don't need to treat people different because there over weight or too skinny. we are all people that have feelings so i don't believe this fat girl code of conduct or the popular scale is what goes on in real life. everyones there own person we don't need no code of conduct or scale to tell us how were suppose to act. Treat people the way you want to be treated.
I didn't really relate to the book that much because Ive never been put in this position. One thing i can relate too is what i see in everyday life. Theres always going to be people that are like look how fat she is, shes gained some weight, and she put on some pounds. After reading this book it makes me think do overweight people follow "The Fat Girl Code of Conduct" or the scale of how popular or dorky you are? For example is it that big of a deal for an overweight person to have a boyfriend or girlfriend...I don't think its a big deal.
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This book sounds very interesting and true for high school life. Every girl does want the perfect guy and I feel that every body, including guys, go through a stage of feeling like the odd one. There is always so much drama and it sounds that Carolyn Mackler describes it very well. It is almost like she went through someting similar. I would love to get ahold of this book and read it.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very interesting and true for high school life. Every girl does want the perfect guy and I feel that every body, including guys, go through a stage of feeling like the odd one. There is always so much drama and it sounds that Carolyn Mackler describes it very well. It is almost like she went through someting similar. I would love to get ahold of this book and read it.
ReplyDeleteI think that this book accurately discribes what high school life is like for girls. There is a lot of pressure to do everything right, and to be noticed by boys. I definitly would like to read this book because it seems really interesting, and i think it would be very easy to relate to. I also agree with Lindsay when she said she didnt agree with any of the rules because girls shouldn't be treated differently because of their size.
ReplyDeleteI think that this book accurately discribes what high school life is like for girls. There is a lot of pressure to do everything right, and to be noticed by boys. I definitly would like to read this book because it seems really interesting, and i think it would be very easy to relate to. I also agree with Lindsay when she said she didnt agree with any of the rules because girls shouldn't be treated differently because of their size.
ReplyDeleteI think this book would definitely show high school how it really is and how the people in high school really are. This book isn't so much interesting to me since it is based around high school drama, but i like the idea of having a book told through a person in high school that deals with all the bullies and stereotypes. This book seems inspirational and touching to read about a girl's struggle to get through high school.
ReplyDeleteThis book seems really good. I think that everyone at one point or another feels like the odd one out and especially in High School this is true. It seems like this book was written by the author in saying that no matter what the outside is, the only thing that matters is what is on the inside. Like that was the message that the main character, Virginia, learned throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteI started reading this book last year, and it was the greatest book I had ever read. I really liked it, but I never got to finish it. I think it is very realistic and shows everyone what the real world is like. I feel like a lot of people can relate to Virginia.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like it was really good. It seems pretty dramatic and a bit more dramatic than i think we have at our high school. I'd defidently like to read this book sometime. These are the kind of books that i like to read and i think its hard to find them. Seems like Virginia was making her life a little bit more miserable than it really was. This book seems like a good one to read and discover Virginia's struggles through high school and how she makes it through.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the title of this book, I knew that I had to keep reading. As I continued, I was really interested. I feel like this book could actually happen. It seems like a story that I could possibly relate to. I bet that the drama will keep me interested throughout the whole thing and I am excited to read it. It also seems like Virginia will be a very dynamic character.
ReplyDeleteJessica Mercier said..
ReplyDeleteI was going to read this book, but I found a different one. This book sounds really interesting. It seems so realistic and what some high school girls are going through. "The way Carolyn Mackler's writing style is the ways teens can understand it." I like that the book is relatable to teenagers and it sounds like when you read the book a real teenager is telling the story.
Shannon Engelson said...
ReplyDeleteLindsay this book sounded like it was pretty good. I would say this is a typical highschool girls' point of veiw. I think I would enjoy this book and I might choose to read it one quarter. I think Virginia was making her life more stressful than it really had to be by following all these rules. She also sounded a little judgy, but most girls are. It sounded like it was a novel based on a true story and I like that.
Lindsay made this book sound really good, I do believe that girls have so much more to worry about going into high school everyday; guys can just throw on jeans and a T-shirt and be set. Girls have to do their hair and make-up and wear an outfit, and if they wear something that is out of style they could get mad fun of. Also girls who are a little bigger then the skinner girls in the school are always mad fun of due to their size, which is stupid, no one should be mad fun of due to their size.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think I would like this story at all, sorry. Maybe if I was a girl I would like this book a lot. Lindsay really did an amazing job with this and I feel it makes it seam better than it probably is.
ReplyDeleteThough the title of this book is rather entertaining, I don't think that I would read this book. Though it does cover a problem in High School life today, it seems like too much of a "girly girl" book. Girls experience a lot of pressures today with what they see in the media and what they see everyday with the "popular girls." This book shows (from what I see) what goes on with all these pressures and what girls are doing. This would seem like a good read but it just seems too girly.
ReplyDeleteJessica Mercier said...
ReplyDeleteI have also read this book. I didn't think it was great, but it wasn't bad either. It was very relatable to many teenage girls going through the rough years of high school. I am not a huge fan of high school girl books because they all seem the same to me. I prefer a book with more depth and meaning behind it.
Grace - why did you not finish the book? Were you too busy saying nasty things to Phoebe Prince? Step up to the plate, bully. And bring your fellow bullies with you. Let's see what you have to say about your unkind actions towards the now-dead girl. A nation waits to hear your words.
ReplyDelete