Crutcher, C. (1993). Staying fat
for Sarah Byrnes. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
Eric Calhoune, AKA Moby, is an
outcast. He is fat. He best friend is a girl, Sarah Byrnes, who
is also an outcast. She is severely
burned. The two of them are inseparable
all through middle school and have an us-against-the-world view, even getting
in trouble with Mr. Mautz, the principal.
As they transition to high school, Eric is asked to join the swim team
and he finds that he enjoys it. But as
he is swimming and training he starts to lose weight, so he eats more to stay
fat because he doesn’t want to let Sarah down and he wants her to still feel
like he is an outcast like her. She lets
Eric off the hook and tells him to quit overeating. They are able to stay friends, but her past
catches up to her and she stops talking.
As she is admitted to a mental hospital, Eric helps her confront her
past and finally break free.
In Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Crutcher brings us up and down through
his storytelling and by using flashbacks to give us background information on
how things got to where they are in the story now. There are parts that are
funny, like when Sarah and Eric create a newspaper and it catches the attention
of the principal and he pleads the fifth or when he is in a CAT class at school
and he tells off another kid. But there
is more seriousness to this book when we realize Sarah’s dad purposefully
burned her when she was three and now seems to want to harm her even more or a
kid in Eric’s class tries to commit suicide.
Crutcher also brings up subjects about abortion and religion, but he
never really gets too deep in or gives a bias.
With Eric telling the story we see his views, but they are not strong
and he also struggles with what he believes.
This book would be fine for 7th and up.
Similar Books:
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
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