THE FAT BOY CHRONICLES

Fourteen-year-old Jimmy Winterpock is a self-proclaimed “diet-challenged kid” who sits in the back row so he won’t have to hear, “We can’t see around Jimmy!” He’s in a new school and has hopes of making new friends, though he soon realizes it’s the same old thing—no friends, no girlfriend and incessant taunts about his weight. His English teacher has required students to keep a journal and to write three half-pages a week, but Jimmy doesn’t see the point. The novel-in–journal-entries, however, is the ideal format for following Jimmy's evolution, as they give readers a direct line to his voice and mind. His voice rings true, appropriately disaffected and sarcastic, yet earnest. Readers may feel cheated, though, when they realize this is a novel with an agenda, turning didactic as it imparts lessons about obesity, social meanness and ostracism. But Jimmy still comes across as a likable kid, and the easy-to-read format will challenge readers to see the real boy in the back of the classroom yearning for a friend. (afterword) (Fiction. 13 & up)